IVORY COAST: French military tries to impose ‘regime change’

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Apr 6, 2011

April 4 — For the second time in two weeks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched military operations aimed at overthrowing an African government. This latest was a military assault against President Laurent Gbagbo’s government in the Ivory Coast. Gbagbo has rejected the results of a disputed run-off election held last November as well as calls from the West and the regional organization ECOWAS for him to step down.

On March 19, France started the aerial bombing campaign against the North African state of Libya, which is designed to topple the government of Moammar Gadhafi. The pretexts for both military actions are United Nations Security Council resolutions ostensibly designed to protect civilians and carry out humanitarian efforts.

In the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan, U.N. so-called peacekeeping forces have conducted air strikes against military units still loyal to President Gbagbo and have attacked the presidential palace. Following a dispute over the elections, various Western countries and their allies within the region have called for settling the conflict by granting opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the presidency. French imperialism has armed and trained the militia that backs Ouattara.

Gbagbo, the incumbent president, has rejected the legitimacy of French and U.N. involvement in the current dispute over the results of the national elections. He has accused France of imperialist ambitions to control its former colony and earlier had requested the establishment of a coalition government with Ouattara.

Eyewitness accounts of France and the U.N.’s April 4 attacks say helicopters fired at least four missiles at areas purportedly controlled by Gbagbo supporters. Hamadou Touré, spokesperson for the U.N. unit in the Ivory Coast, used the same line of argument as that used to justify imperialist intervention in Libya, claiming the Gbagbo army was using “heavy weapons against us” and that the U.N. forces had to “protect innocent lives.” (Telegraph.co.uk, April 4)

French military stationed in Ivory Coast

Reports indicate that France already has a military force of 1,650 troops in Ivory Coast. A BBC news report said that French forces shelled the presidential palace on April 1.

Although the French forces are nominally a part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission to the country, Paris has announced it recently bolstered its troops by another 450 soldiers. French military forces reportedly took control of the airport outside Abidjan on the evening of April 2. A nation of over 20 million people, Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cocoa.

France ruled Ivory Coast as a colony from 1893 to 1960. After its independence, the Ivory Coast’s dominant political forces maintained close relations with Paris for nearly four decades, and the country was part of the French economic zone.

The U.N. and French forces are bolstered by the military units controlled by Alassane Ouattara, who says that he has 9,000 fighters under his command. The commanding officer of the forces loyal to Ouattara said on April 4, “We know when it starts it could take 48 hours to properly clean (the city).” (Associated Press, Reuters, April 4)

France continues military role in former colonies

This is by no means the first time that France has intervened in the internal affairs of its former colonies in Africa. During a 2009 rebellion in Gabon, an oil-rich, pro-Western state, France sent its military units into the streets under the guise of protecting the lives of its nationals living and working inside the country.

The French military maintains permanent bases in various parts of West Africa. In Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, the French share a military outpost with the U.S. The Pentagon has its Africa Command (Africom) forward operating center inside Djibouti.

France and the U.S. collaborated in initiating the current war against Libya, where they and Britain carried out more than 1,000 bombing missions within two weeks. In Ivory Coast, both the Barack Obama and Sarkozy governments have demanded the removal of Laurent Gbagbo.

Although France and the U.N. have a strong presence in Ivory Coast, a massacre of hundreds of civilians between March 28 and March 30 in the western cocoa producing town of Duekoue has drawn international attention to the ongoing conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported on April 1 that “800 people had been shot to death” in the town. However, the U.N. said that the death toll was 330 as of April 1. (cnn.com, April 4)

U.N. deputy human rights director, Guillaume Ngefa, said that the massacre occurred during an offensive led by the military forces of the French and U.N. supporting Ouattara. Nonetheless, the Ouattara forces said that “it firmly rejects such accusations and denies any involvement by the Republican Forces of Cote d’Ivoire in possible abuses.” (cnn.com, April 4)