Comment On Cote d'Ivoire....

From my buddy that I met there. His wife is from CI...

Hey Glenzo! Many thanks, and yes, very very sad indeed. Mxxxxx was crying yesterday evening; her mother's family are all from the West, refugees in Abidjan. Working myself with the UN I have to be critical on their involvement though. Either the UN mandate in CI gets significantly enforced or they will (in fact they already are) be regarded as perpetuating the status quo of two divided countries, perceived as such from both main warring sides, north and south.

There is also the issue of blue helmets misbehaving themselves and exacerbating local disparities. Some FR peacekeepers even robbed a bank in Man themselves; others are involved in organized prostitution. Gbagbo just uses the young patriots for his own interest; discrediting the UN and France as much as he can to get away with it and try to stir nationalism in order to get re-instated as the only alternative left for Ivorians to look upon.

I heard that France might send troops to intervene. If they do that again they might just get rid of Gbagbo once and forever by putting someone else in his place (as they tried in 2004, with Mathias Doue, the then military commander, who at the end refused to take power through yet another coup...). Since then Gbagbo fired him and put him under house arrest... Let's see, if pressure rises even further France might force Doue to accept being put in place and 'officially' restore order. the problem here is that France is totally discredited so among Ivorians. I met Doue twice when we were in CI; he studied In France and Germany, with a rather calm personality, and is fluent in FR, EN and German.

The problem is that many of the rebels were already with General Guei back in 2001; these guys, as much as Gbagbo, just want to stay in power, and that by all means, regardless of what might or might not happen.

Is the UN really part of the solution to the worlds problems?