French troops launch assault for final take over
Do you see
what it takes for Mr. Alasane Ouattara
to get to power in Cote D Ivoire? This guy mounted a coup d’état which led
to the killing of thousands of Ivoirians in 1999, the rebellion followed in
2002 and more thousands were killed still under him. He connived with the French
to overthrow Gbagbo in 2004 and in the process killed hundreds of civilians. He
again called on French troops to repeat the incident of 2004 and in the evening
of Saturday April 2, 2011 the French seized the Abidjan main airport and began
flying in commandos and snipers. In the meantime, some of the snipers and commandos have started killing Ivorians but this is not reported by any western media.
Imagine, since December 2010 (4 months today- early April 2011), going
by UN statistics, 500 people have been killed in the post-electoral conflict in Cote D’Ivoire and both sides ( Gbagbo,
Ouattara) have been blamed. But is
what the mainstream media and UN telling us all of the reality?
Just in control of a city for one day i.e. Doukoue and neighbouring
areas, west of Cote D’Ivoire, the guy (Ouattara rebels) killed over 1000
people. Yet, some media have been trying to undermine it or distort the
information. That is unacceptable. No person in his right frame of mind should
condone or justify that or undermine it.
Initially, his friends of the mainstream international media
and the UN wanted to cover or undermine it but we thank God, citizen
journalists, social media and the Catholic church
through CARITAS are there to unmasked them. Some of these media are now forced to
reluctantly report about it.
The first media AFP (naturally French media) carried information that mass graves were "discovered" by Ouattara rebels in
Doukoue and neighbouring areas. Unfortunately the psychological war could
not go far. However, evidence kept coming up that the crimes were committed
by Ouattara rebels. The UN, to protect their guy, said they heard some information about
human right abuses but could not confirm it.
From accusations of Gbagbo, the media, BBC, France 24 ET al started
saying the death were as a result of inter-communal violence. I had
personally exchanged bitterly with a certain Andrew Harding of BBC a
few weeks ago on his blog and told him to stop disinforming people. I asked him
to tell both sides of the story. Since then, he started putting up a few
phrases like Ouattara has also been accused of violence.
I don’t know if that was the direct result
of our exchanges or not, but, it was the first that that i could read such a phrase on a BBC report.
In our chat, he said "80%" of the violence was carried by
Gbagbo forces and I asked him that, if that was really the case, so is the
other 20 % not worth mentioning? What about violence in the northern part of
the country? If in 80 cases of violence, a few people are killed and in
just 1 case more than 1000 people are killed and they try hiding it or going on scene but reporting lies.
Ouattara's embargo on basic drugs had already led to the death of
hundred of innocent people in the country but no international media organ reported it. How can those
preaching human rights ban the importation of basic medication, be indifferent on people health and others who are giving
lessons on responsible journalism refused to report on the impact of such an
inhuman action?
I told Anddrew that while a journalist in Cameroon, some BBC journalists
used to come and give us lessons on what they described as responsible
journalism and fair reporting. I told him that thank God, I will never receive
such baseless lessons again. BBC, France 24 and other allied media are quick to claim that the government of Ivory Coast is using rebels but fails to admit that Malian, Senegalese, Burkinabe mercenaries have been fighting along side the rebels. They fail to report that Ouattara and his rebels attacked prisons, liberated and armed prisoners to join them in the fight. These media often embeded with rebels, UN and French troops refused to report on the assistance these groups are giving the rebels. Yet, they are quick to lecture people on responsible journalism. Even more ridiculous, BBC even goes ahead and says Ouattara is hated because he is "too western". I do not know what they mean by that. Is it because he is married to a cacausian lady?
Back to the massacre, sensing that the cooked-up story on inter-communal
violence was seriously being debunked through social media and by citizens
journalists as well other organisations in Cote D Ivoire who are there to dig
out the truth, the UN decided to divide the deaths and said Gbagbo was
responsible for 100 and Ouattara 330. But we kept on telling them that those
are fake stories. Gbagbo forces could not be responsible for the death when his
forces were not even in town.
We thank God, Caritas came up and said Ouattara fully controlled the area and
implicitly, fully carried out the massacre. These were people killed just for
voting or supporting Gbagbo and some are also sympathisers of Bedie, given that
Bedie and Ouattara have been arch rivals. It is even on this note that we
argued that the Bedie-Ouattara alliance was an alliance against nature. Bedie and
a few elites could have voted for Ouattara but not necessarily the masses who know what they have suffered
in the hands of this rebel called Ouattara.
This same Ouattara reported to have ordered the killing of his own
supporters to arouse international emotions, his detractors claim. Yet, after the recent massacre, nobody has dared to call Ouattara to order as they did with Gbagbo when the latter accused of the true-false killings of civilians.
Some of us may be uninformed about the history of Cote D’Ivoire. I am not
an Ivorian but it does not mean I may not know
the history of that country and especially in context to the current imbroglio.
Take a look at the history and conclude who is more violent. Is it Gbagbo or
Ouattara? If Gbagbo was violent, he would not have accepted to sit down
with the rebels and share power in Marcoussi following the failed coup d’état.
It is really unfortunate that this rebel leader who was brought in by late
dictator Felix Boigny and who even hadn't an Ivorian birth certificate till the late
2000, is bound to destroy the country for power and with the wealth and
connection he created while working for the IMF.
There is mounting evidence as to the UN and French troops are supporting the
rebels. Some people think the UN is infallible or they think it is a taboo to
criticise the UN with respects to what is happening in Cote Ivoire. The current
UN boss will enter history as the worst in generations.
Officially, France has "1200" troops in Cote D'Ivoire after recently
adding "150" but in reality, they have several more thousands of
soldiers there.
Gbagbo, though not perfect, is a man of peace, we must admit that.
One cannot lose an election in broad light and the so called international
community wants to impose him on people. Gbagbo would have left ever since if
he really lost. Instead of looking at his case, we are bound to dismiss his
arguments because we thought only incumbents could rig elections forgetting
that the rebel leader who had taken 60 percent of the country hostage, had prepared
a master piece for fraud. However, he was caught and duly sanctioned by the
body that has the final say on electoral matters. This body is no other institution
that the sovereign Constitutional Council of Cote D Ivoire which bigger powers
and their acolytes are now trying to ridicule.
Even if Ouattara is successfully imposed, there are two things:
either he gets killed soonest by the current military men who have
defected or by his disgruntled militias/rebels. OR
He has to spend half of the state budget on the French to assure his personal safety.
This guy is not good for Cote D Ivoire.
On Saturday evening French soldiers sent away
all Ivorians from the main Airport in Abidjan and began flying in (officaily 300 troops) by in reality thousands
of troops to come and finish the job with they left uncompleted in 2004 in their
attempt to kill Laurent Gbagbo. They
killed at 300 Ivoirians in the incident though they earlier denied involvement but
later accepted “only 20” dead. Nobody condemned France at the time and nobody
has ever condemned France nor ask the colonial power to pay compensation for the massacre.
Sincerely, I would have insisted that Gbagbo remains since he won the
elections but for the sake of peace, I wish both candidates should go. Aluta continua.