Côte d'Ivoire: “Why is no one intervening in Ivory Coast?”

This post is part of a special report on the events in Ivory Coast in 2011. (All links in the article are in French unless stated otherwise)

 

Violence continues in Ivory Coast.  Charles Blé Goudé has called for the Young Patriots, supporters of the outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo, to enlist in the army.   Now thousands of young men have turned up at the headquarters of the Ivorian Army in the capital Abidjan.  Having seen how the United Nations agreed on a military intervention in Libya, some Ivorian netizens are wondering how far the situation is going to degenerate before the international community intervenes.

 

Un soldat Ivoirien brandit son arme devant la foule via @Abidjan_net sur Twitpic

A soldier brandishing his gun in front of the crowd via @Abidjan_net on Twitpic

Guy Alain Bembelly, on blog Ce Que Je pense … writes The United Nations prefers mint tea to Ivorian coffee:

The coffee machine in the United Nations café is out of order.  They serve only mint tea as stipulated by a 1973 resolution agreed on during an international society ball organised in the Palais de l'Elysée on 19th March 2011.  The  price of coffee has sharply declined on the Abidjan stock exchange, investors have sold all their shares, the population is anxious.  In Ivory Coast, this news has had the effect of a bomb.

As @kapzy043 writes on Twitter:

The UN attributes 25 deaths Thursday in Abidjan to Gbagbo's partisans.

The UN authorises foreign armed action against Gaddafi (Reuters).

@Fresco68 explains that the Abobo area of Abidjan is still being bombarded:

The conflict degenerated into the shelling of Abobo on 17th March.

The United Nations is speaking of a crime against humanity after the shelling :

We utterly condemn yesterday's (Thursday's) attack by rockets or other missiles on a civilian area in the Abobo  suburb of the capital Abidjan,” a spokesman for the High Commission, Rupert Colville, announced at a press briefing.  He stressed that “it is quite difficult to avoid the conclusion that this may be an international crime, possibly a crime against humanity.”

@nbouba shares a video filmed after the attack:

Results of a hail of shelling on an Abobo market … just horrible!

[WARNING:  This video contains scenes of violence]

So @lamamandismael asks:

Why is no one intervening in Ivory Coast?

@Msillien responds:

Blacks but not black gold!

Especially, as @rootsnappy reminds us, because the frame of mind at the start of the Libyan revolution was to refuse all foreign intervention:

Libya: No Foreign Intervention http://twitpic.com/4ag2ej

So what has changed, and more importantly, why intervene in Libya and not in Ivory Coast?

Blogger Actu et Opinions lists the abuses of power that Ivorians have endured since November 2010 and accuses international leaders of not acting despite knowing what Ivorians have suffered since the beginning of the crisis:

I accuse Nicolas Sarkozy of having declared void the votes of 13% of the electorate, consolidated into 7 departments though the plaintiff disputed 4 of them;

I accuse Michelle Alliot Marie of having imposed a curfew in Abidjan on the evening of the elections, a curfew which led to numerous nighttime acts of violence and assassinations […];

I accuse Barak Obama of having shot at the women walking to Abobo, Abidjan on 4th March 2011, and of having fired shells onto the Abobo market on 17th March.

I accuse Jacques Chirac of having signed the Pretoria 2 Accords in 2005, which made provision for the UN to certify the presidential elections in view of the lack of confidence among the candidates;

I accuse Good Luck Jonathan of having looted and ransacked the homes of Ouattara's partisans;

I accuse Alain Juppé of inciting the young people of his party to loot mosques and  burn them down;

I accuse Bank Ki Moon of having had civilians burnt alive in Abidjan just for being rebels.

And @Fresco68 added:

The international community will intervene only when the pogrom led by Gbagbo reaches 800,000 dead, like in Rwanda.

Because, as @SenamBeheton says:

When world's attention was on Tunisia, Gbagbo killed more.  Then Egypt, Libya, Japan and now Libya.  So he will step on it next week.

Then,

Will we avoid a genocidal weekend in Ivory Coast? … One day, a Saint Barthélémy will happen and they could do nothing about it!

As @nicocerise asks:

Blé Goudé foresees young patriots being sent to death.  Monday is a fateful day for Ivory Coast.  This is an extremely serious time.

The jesting of @zizou78700 perfectly sums up the general sentiment:

In Abobo, they're hurling silent shells over the population.  Probably a no-law zone for the international community.

 

 

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