French troops killed 63 in unrest

[From the south]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18110796.htm

ABIDJAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government said on Thursday that soldiers from former colonial power France had shot dead 63 people and injured more than 1,300 during several days of unrest in the world's top cocoa grower.

France destroyed most of Ivory Coast's air force this month after a bombing raid killed nine French peacekeepers in the rebel-held north, and French troops deployed in the main city Abidjan to protect French nationals from days of rioting.

"This retaliation ... killed 63 soldiers and civilians and injured more than 1,300 with bullets fired by the French army as they brought their troops back to Abidjan and during the demonstrations ... " the Ivorian government said in a statement after its first cabinet meeting since the crisis began.

A spokesman for the roughly 5,000 French soldiers deployed in Ivory Coast declined to comment.

Almost 7,000 expatriates fled the West African country after the mob violence broke out.

The Ivorian army's assault on the north, held by rebels since September 2002, shattered an 18-month ceasefire. The unrest raised fears of a full-blown civil war that could drag in neighbouring states in a volatile region.


Great.... now another civil war in africa

[Mistress Quickly]

1. Why doesn't France just leave

What is the Ivory Coast's commodity? Diamonds?

France should just take its toys and go home. Just like America should in a lot of places.

When westerners start trying to force their beliefs on others, there will be a problem.

[From the south]

4. cocoa

and diamonds .... maybe some other raw materials

[rkc3]

2. And I thought the French were a bunch of pussies.

Maybe they are trying to re-brand themselves.

[el_gato]

3. they've been doing this shit for a couple hundred years now

They are only called pussies when the U.S. wants to beat it's chest by saying "hey we kill way more impoverished people than you do!"