Côte d'Ivoire: No Peace in Sight

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200407121356.html

>snip
Lack of good faith on the part of all sides in the Côte d'Ivoire peace process is jeopardising the October 2005 elections and could cause the war to spread to neighbouring countries.

Côte d'Ivoire: No Peace in Sight, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the political stand-off most notably between President Gbagbo and his FPI party on the one hand and the rebel Forces Nouvelles on the other, as well as the economic incentives that make war lucrative for almost everyone except ordinary citizens. If there is to be any chance of peace, the international community, and especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), needs to take on the spoilers more assertively and openly, and end impunity for the perpetrators of continued violence.

"No political actor has shown the will to break the impasse", says Mike McGovern, West Africa Project Director for ICG. "Diplomacy built upon the assumption that the parties aim to negotiate in good faith is doomed to failure".

The key issues addressed in the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Accords -- nationality, eligibility for elections, and disarmament -- are as pressing as ever, yet all are deadlocked. Opposition parties have left the Government of National Reconciliation. The Forces Nouvelles not only refuse to disarm until after elections, but are flirting with secession.
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[SoCalDem]

1. It's too bad that we cannot just round up ALL the African leaders

and dump them off on some deserted island.. Let them sort out their differences.. The everyday people would probably arrive at some accomodation and live very happily without their corrupt politicians..

Maybe George & his henchmen could go along as referees.:)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. You think the real power players (read - the G8) would let that go down?

Don't think so - better to have this strife - it keeps "minerals" inexpensive

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Cheap Minerals?

Don't think so - better to have this strife - it keeps "minerals" inexpensive<<

I think you have made one of the most insightful statements that I have read in the last several days.... good job.

http://www.skeptictank.org/robem2.htm
>>In April, 1997 two pilots who worked for Operation Blessing charged that planes linked to Robertson and his ministry flew mostly to haul equipment for ADC's private diamond operation. Robert Hinkle, the chief pilot told reporter Bill Sizemore that of about 40 flights within Zaire during the half-year period he was there, "Only one or at most two" were related to the humanitarian mission of Operation Blessing. The rest were "mining-related."<<

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. Yes but the mining was all done for Jesus

That's right - all that profit goes to Jesus so its all good!

:puke:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. He would toss them in their faces....

And they know it too.

It seems that for all too long.. the goal of the very powerful... has been to remove the rights of people to the wealth that exists below their feet. This can best be accomplished by inciting violence... discord.. and general mayhem. Just an observation.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. You are absolutely correct - painfully so. Your words speak clearer than

even yourself might know - "remove the rights of people to the wealth that exists below their feet" - the majority of diamonds are dug up by BAREFOOT men in Africa. They are digging RIGHT NOW - 24 hours a day. With shovels and nothing else - modern slaves to an untraceable money (lets be honest - diamonds are currency) that allows them to get a few drinks at the local saloon before going back to the mines again. Its just like the wild west was - except mix de facto slavery in. Its a mixture of poverty, alcoholism, mysogeny and gambling tossed into slavery and there you have it - the destruction of human beings - and that's just to get the stones out of the ground - the destruction of lives, in the wake of diamonds, goes on for hundreds of years for each stone.