Ivory Coast engulfed in violence

ABIDJAN – The United Nations and France demanded yesterday that President Laurent Gbagbo end fighting in Ivory Coast after his forces killed nine French peacekeepers in a bombing raid on a rebel-held town.

France hit back by destroying two warplanes and five helicopters, most of the West African country’s small air force, and the former colonial power threatened to press for a UN Security Council arms embargo and other sanctions. French troops fired teargas overnight at angry pro-Gbagbo supporters massed at a French military base in the main city Abidjan and the foreign force said the crowds were swelling on Sunday morning.Mobs of youths looted shops in the capital Yamoussoukro and soldiers fired into the air yesterday.In a sprawling Abidjan suburb, rioters ripped tyres off cars to erect barricades and stick-wielding crowds massed, witnesses said.Ivorian officials said the president was coming under pressure from France to quit.”It’s out of the question,” said national assembly speaker Mamadou Koulibaly.”We are going towards a big civil war, an uprising like we have probably never seen before in Africa.I can’t see how (French President Jacques) Chirac will triumph.”Koulibaly told French radio French soldiers had killed more than 30 people and injured over 100.The French army could not confirm the death toll.Gbagbo’s forces last week shattered an 18-month truce with rebels who hold the northern half of the world’s biggest cocoa grower by launching three days of air strikes and sending soldiers into a neutral buffer zone.At an emergency session on Saturday, the UN Security Council gave the 10 000 French and other international peacekeepers a green light to use “all necessary means” to stop the fighting.SANCTIONS THREAT UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan phoned Gbagbo twice to urge him to end the violence, which threatens stability in West Africa, where several other states have been plagued by conflicts in the past decade or so.European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the attack inadmissible and held Gbagbo responsible for the security of all Europeans in Ivory Coast.France’s UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said he would seek a vote in the coming week on a draft resolution calling for an arms embargo on Ivory Coast and threatening sanctions against those blocking the peace process and violating human rights.”The Security Council is impatient,” de la Sabliere said.France warned Gbagbo last week not to resume hostilities and was furious at the killing of its nine peacekeepers.Twenty-three other French soldiers were wounded in the bombing raid on the rebel-held town of Bouake.On Chirac’s orders, two Ivorian Sukhoi 25 fighters and three helicopters were blown up in Yamoussoukro.Two more helicopters were knocked out of action in Abidjan on Sunday morning.France has been caught in the middle of the conflict in Ivory Coast ever since rebels seized the north after a failed attempt to oust Gbagbo in September 2002.Thousands of people were killed in fighting before a truce was agreed in May 2003.The rebels say French soldiers stopped them advancing on Abidjan to defeat Ivory Coast’s army, while the president says France should have helped his forces defeat the insurgents at the start of the uprising.- Nampa-ReutersFrench troops fired teargas overnight at angry pro-Gbagbo supporters massed at a French military base in the main city Abidjan and the foreign force said the crowds were swelling on Sunday morning.Mobs of youths looted shops in the capital Yamoussoukro and soldiers fired into the air yesterday.In a sprawling Abidjan suburb, rioters ripped tyres off cars to erect barricades and stick-wielding crowds massed, witnesses said.Ivorian officials said the president was coming under pressure from France to quit.”It’s out of the question,” said national assembly speaker Mamadou Koulibaly.”We are going towards a big civil war, an uprising like we have probably never seen before in Africa.I can’t see how (French President Jacques) Chirac will triumph.”Koulibaly told French radio French soldiers had killed more than 30 people and injured over 100.The French army could not confirm the death toll.Gbagbo’s forces last week shattered an 18-month truce with rebels who hold the northern half of the world’s biggest cocoa grower by launching three days of air strikes and sending soldiers into a neutral buffer zone.At an emergency session on Saturday, the UN Security Council gave the 10 000 French and other international peacekeepers a green light to use “all necessary means” to stop the fighting.SANCTIONS THREAT UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan phoned Gbagbo twice to urge him to end the violence, which threatens stability in West Africa, where several other states have been plagued by conflicts in the past decade or so.European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the attack inadmissible and held Gbagbo responsible for the security of all Europeans in Ivory Coast.France’s UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said he would seek a vote in the coming week on a draft resolution calling for an arms embargo on Ivory Coast and threatening sanctions against those blocking the peace process and violating human rights.”The Security Council is impatient,” de la Sabliere said.France warned Gbagbo last week not to resume hostilities and was furious at the killing of its nine peacekeepers.Twenty-three other French soldiers were wounded in the bombing raid on the rebel-held town of Bouake.On Chirac’s orders, two Ivorian Sukhoi 25 fighters and three helicopters were blown up in Yamoussoukro.Two more helicopters were knocked out of action in Abidjan on Sunday morning.France has been caught in the middle of the conflict in Ivory Coast ever since rebels seized the north after a failed attempt to oust Gbagbo in September 2002.Thousands of people were killed in fighting before a truce was agreed in May 2003.The rebels say French soldiers stopped them advancing on Abidjan to defeat Ivory Coast’s army, while the president says France should have helped his forces defeat the insurgents at the start of the uprising.- Nampa-Reuters