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11-08-2004, 11:50 AM
French surround home of Ivory Coast leader
More than 500 wounded, others killed in violence against foreigners
Meanwhile, a Red Cross official told the Associated Press that more than 500 people were wounded and an unknown number killed during a weekend of unrest in the former French colony.
Fifty armored vehicles moved in around Gbagbo's home in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said.
“Their presence here is scaring people. They’re crying and they think that President Gbagbo is going to be overthrown,” Tagro told the AP by telephone.
French deny coup attempt
The French denied surrounding the house or intending to oust Gbagbo, saying the forces were only securing a temporary base at a hotel a couple hundred yards away for foreign evacuations.
Thousands of people filled the streets around Gbagbo’s home after calls on state radio and television for them to do so. French troops fired warning shots to hold back the crowd, said a worker at the Hotel Ivoire reached by telephone and speaking on condition of anonymity.
Protesters chanted against the French, yelling, “The whites don’t like the blacks, but we don’t care!” Some signs declares, “Ivory Coast is a sovereign state.”
French forces have moved to take control of Abidjan after chaos erupted in this west African nation on Saturday. Ivorian warplanes launched a surprise airstrike that killed nine French peacekeepers and an American civilian aid worker in the north, held by rebels since a 2002 civil war divided the country. The government later called the bombing, which came two days after government forces last week broke a cease-fire that had been in place for more than a year, a mistake.
France hit back within hours, wiping out Ivory Coast’s newly built-up air force — two Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters and at least three helicopter gunships — on the ground.
Street-level violence erupted, with machete-wielding mobs seeking to exact revenge on French citizens. With armored vehicles and helicopter gunships deployed, France used tear gas and concussion grenades to quell the mobs.
Foreigners plucked from hotel rooftop
On Sunday, French military helicopters swept in to rescue a dozen trapped foreigners from the rooftop of a once-luxury hotel, flying them and their luggage to safety.
Gbagbo appealed for calm Sunday in his first public comments since the cease-fire was broken on Thursday.
“I implore, I implore the population to stay calm ... and I ask all demonstrators to go back to their homes,” the Ivorian leader said.
He thanked the army and hard-liner loyalists, and accepted no blame for the bombing of the French post, saying only that a bomb “supposedly” had caused the death of the nine French troops.
Gbagbo’s spokesman told the AP separately that Ivory Coast was willing to cease fire and immediately pull forces from the peacekeeper-controlled buffer zone.
The slain French troops were among 4,000 French peacekeepers and 6,000 U.N. troops in Ivory Coast, serving as a buffer between the rebel-held north and loyalist south since civil war broke out in September 2002.
The peacekeepers are trying to hold together a nation whose stability is vital in a region where several nations are only just recovering from devastating civil wars in the 1990s. Ivory Coast is the world’s top cocoa producer and until the late 1990s stood as West Africa’s most prosperous and peaceful nation.
'No hidden agenda'
France rejected accusations that it was attacking the nation.
“In no way is France there to destabilize Ivory Coast and its institutions or take sides,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is above all concerned with preserving constitutional legality. There is no hidden agenda.”
Gunshots echoed in Abidjan and the political capital, Yamoussoukro, as thousands-strong crowds destroyed foreign and locally owned businesses alike. Acrid black smoke rose from barricades of burning tires.
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Click here for MSNBC.com's International section
An AP reporter watched a crowd clutching machetes and iron bars enter one neighborhood, demanding if any French lived there.
“If there are any whites in this neighborhood, we’re going to get ... them,” one man shouted.
About 14,000 French citizens live in Ivory Coast. In Abidjan, they crouched in their homes.
“We are all terrified, and try to reassure each other,” one French resident said by telephone. “We have been told by the embassy to stay at home. ... It is a difficult situation to live through.”
Abidjan’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants from neighboring Muslim nations also went into hiding.
“We’re afraid because who knows, maybe this is civil war,” said one man, who would identify himself only as Ouedraogo, holed up in a mosque with about 30 others.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
More than 500 wounded, others killed in violence against foreigners
Meanwhile, a Red Cross official told the Associated Press that more than 500 people were wounded and an unknown number killed during a weekend of unrest in the former French colony.
Fifty armored vehicles moved in around Gbagbo's home in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said.
“Their presence here is scaring people. They’re crying and they think that President Gbagbo is going to be overthrown,” Tagro told the AP by telephone.
French deny coup attempt
The French denied surrounding the house or intending to oust Gbagbo, saying the forces were only securing a temporary base at a hotel a couple hundred yards away for foreign evacuations.
Thousands of people filled the streets around Gbagbo’s home after calls on state radio and television for them to do so. French troops fired warning shots to hold back the crowd, said a worker at the Hotel Ivoire reached by telephone and speaking on condition of anonymity.
Protesters chanted against the French, yelling, “The whites don’t like the blacks, but we don’t care!” Some signs declares, “Ivory Coast is a sovereign state.”
French forces have moved to take control of Abidjan after chaos erupted in this west African nation on Saturday. Ivorian warplanes launched a surprise airstrike that killed nine French peacekeepers and an American civilian aid worker in the north, held by rebels since a 2002 civil war divided the country. The government later called the bombing, which came two days after government forces last week broke a cease-fire that had been in place for more than a year, a mistake.
France hit back within hours, wiping out Ivory Coast’s newly built-up air force — two Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters and at least three helicopter gunships — on the ground.
Street-level violence erupted, with machete-wielding mobs seeking to exact revenge on French citizens. With armored vehicles and helicopter gunships deployed, France used tear gas and concussion grenades to quell the mobs.
Foreigners plucked from hotel rooftop
On Sunday, French military helicopters swept in to rescue a dozen trapped foreigners from the rooftop of a once-luxury hotel, flying them and their luggage to safety.
Gbagbo appealed for calm Sunday in his first public comments since the cease-fire was broken on Thursday.
“I implore, I implore the population to stay calm ... and I ask all demonstrators to go back to their homes,” the Ivorian leader said.
He thanked the army and hard-liner loyalists, and accepted no blame for the bombing of the French post, saying only that a bomb “supposedly” had caused the death of the nine French troops.
Gbagbo’s spokesman told the AP separately that Ivory Coast was willing to cease fire and immediately pull forces from the peacekeeper-controlled buffer zone.
The slain French troops were among 4,000 French peacekeepers and 6,000 U.N. troops in Ivory Coast, serving as a buffer between the rebel-held north and loyalist south since civil war broke out in September 2002.
The peacekeepers are trying to hold together a nation whose stability is vital in a region where several nations are only just recovering from devastating civil wars in the 1990s. Ivory Coast is the world’s top cocoa producer and until the late 1990s stood as West Africa’s most prosperous and peaceful nation.
'No hidden agenda'
France rejected accusations that it was attacking the nation.
“In no way is France there to destabilize Ivory Coast and its institutions or take sides,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is above all concerned with preserving constitutional legality. There is no hidden agenda.”
Gunshots echoed in Abidjan and the political capital, Yamoussoukro, as thousands-strong crowds destroyed foreign and locally owned businesses alike. Acrid black smoke rose from barricades of burning tires.
RELATED STORY
Click here for MSNBC.com's International section
An AP reporter watched a crowd clutching machetes and iron bars enter one neighborhood, demanding if any French lived there.
“If there are any whites in this neighborhood, we’re going to get ... them,” one man shouted.
About 14,000 French citizens live in Ivory Coast. In Abidjan, they crouched in their homes.
“We are all terrified, and try to reassure each other,” one French resident said by telephone. “We have been told by the embassy to stay at home. ... It is a difficult situation to live through.”
Abidjan’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants from neighboring Muslim nations also went into hiding.
“We’re afraid because who knows, maybe this is civil war,” said one man, who would identify himself only as Ouedraogo, holed up in a mosque with about 30 others.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This