Most of them were committed by the "good guys" backed by the U.N.
"Gbagbo’s foes seize key city in Ivory Coast; Resistance wanes in leadership war" by Marco Chown Oved and Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press / March 31, 2011
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Fighters supporting Ivory Coast’s internationally recognized leader seized control of the country’s administrative capital yesterday, marking a symbolic victory after months of political chaos sparked when the incumbent refused to step down after an election.
The fall of Yamoussoukro caps a dramatic advance on the city from multiple directions this week, but many believe a final, bloody battle over the presidency is now destined for the commercial capital of Abidjan, 143 miles away....
With the sounds of gunshots cracking over the telephone line, a woman at the downtown Hotel La Residence said the group loyal to Ouattara was doing a victory tour, shooting into the air. Residents came out into the streets to welcome them, she said.
The woman, who would not give her name for fear of reprisals, said soldiers and police had fled hours before the rebels arrived. When the rebels first entered the city center, there were cries of alarm, she said, but those turned to shouts of joy and whistles of approval when the forces were recognized.
Why would she be afraid of reprisals if she had just been liberated?
“Blitzkrieg seems to be the strategy, rather than fighting to clear every inch and hamlet,’’ said Christian Bock, senior security analyst at Avascent International. “It will take an enormous amount of restraint to hold these forces back from moving on to Abidjan.’’
Alla said the forces hope for a similar lack of resistance upon reaching the country’s largest city, which is divided into neighborhoods backing Ouattara and others supporting incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo.
“Abidjan will be the same thing,’’ he said. “We’ll enter without firing a shot because no FDS [pro-Gbagbo] soldier wants to die for Gbagbo.’’
Then what are all these dead people doing lying all over the place?
The international community and Ivory Coast’s electoral commission say Ouattara won the November presidential election, but Gbagbo has refused to give up power after a decade in office. Up to 1 million people have fled the fighting that began after weeks of political impasse, and at least 462 people have been killed since the election.
What do you know, ANOTHER REFUGEE CRISIS!
The two men have vied for the presidency for months, but the rebels launched a dramatic offensive this week, seizing control of a dozen towns since Monday.
Who are these mysterious rebels and where did they get their arms?
The rebels advanced on three fronts: in the west, center, and east of the country.
The west and central columns have converged on Yamoussoukro and may join the eastern front, which is heading directly for Abidjan.
A statement read on state television Tuesday night said the thousands of youth who enlisted in Gbagbo’s army last week would be called up for service.
Ouattara, who is from northern Ivory Coast, had long tried to distance himself from the rebels based there who fought in a brief civil war almost a decade ago that divided the country. However, some of these forces have been stepping up their offensive to install him in power in recent weeks.
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Yeah, those are the guys responsible for most of the mass graves:
"Hundreds massacred in Ivorian town; UN says civilians among victims of rival fighters" by Adam Nossiter, New York Times / April 3, 2011
DAKAR, Senegal — As rebels swept across Ivory Coast yesterday in a rapid advance to oust the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, hundreds of people were reported to have been killed in a single town last week, by far the worst episode of violence reported in the four-month political crisis that has plunged the country back into civil war.
The exact number of dead was unclear. The UN said yesterday that 330 people had been killed, while aid organizations put the death toll as high as 1,000. It was also uncertain how many were civilians, and how many were combatants.
The “town was full of bodies,’’ said Patrick Nicholson, a spokesman for Caritas, a Catholic charity whose staff members visited the town, Duekoue, in western Ivory Coast. “They saw bodies in the city, in the bush, mass graves.’’
Humanitarian aid workers did not say who was responsible. But the UN said that more than 100 had been killed by Gbagbo’s fighters, while about 200 had been killed by forces loyal to his rival, Alassane Ouattara, the man recognized by the United Nations, the African Union, and other international bodies as the winner of the presidential election last year.
You know, the "good guy liberators."
Ouattara’s government issued a statement denying responsibility for atrocities in any part of the country, saying its forces had discovered mass graves in other towns that were the result of massacres by Gbagbo’s forces.
Throughout most of the crisis, civilian deaths have largely come at the hands of Gbagbo’s forces, eliciting threats of charges from international prosecutors.
Human rights groups have also accused forces loyal to Ouattara of some extrajudicial killings, but neither side has been implicated in a massacre even close to this scale....
The conflict between Ouattara and Gbagbo has unleashed longstanding ethnic rivalries, particularly in the lawless western regions of the country. Yesterday, the Red Cross said the large number of bodies it saw in Duekoue were apparently victims of “intercommunal violence.’’ But it did not assign responsibility for the killings....
Many of the fighters are former rebels from a 2002 uprising that divided Ivory Coast in half. The rebels have a history of human rights abuses and had largely stayed on the sidelines of the country’s political crisis.
And THAT is who the INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY is BACKING!!
But with Gbagbo refusing to step down, the rebels pushed across the country in a rapid sweep last week, advancing all the way to encircle the presidential palace and Gbagbo’s residence in the nation’s main city, Abidjan.
UN peacekeepers are stationed at Duekoue, but it was unclear what knowledge, if any, their base might have had about the mass killings.
Just like Srebrenica or the Congo!
Right, the U.N. is here to help.
“They are protecting the Catholic mission’’ where thousands of civilians have taken refuge, said a UN spokesman, Hamadoun Toure. “They didn’t tell me anything. If they knew they would have told us,’’ he said.
Gunfire and artillery exchanges rocked Abidjan yesterday as Gbagbo stiffly resisted efforts to dislodge him.
Gbagbo’s loyalists retook the state television station, though Ouattara’s military spokesman dismissed the significance of its retaking. “What is preoccupying us is the liberation of the people of Abidjan,’’ said Captain Leon Alla. “Not the RTI, which is nothing but propaganda,’’ he said, referring to Radio Television Ivorienne.
Still, the station has been one of Gbagbo’s most powerful weapons in a nonstop campaign to fire up supporters with claims that he is the victim of a Western conspiracy, and both sides have waged a fierce battle for it.
Streets were empty, widespread looting was reported, and residents stayed home, often lying on the floor to avoid stray bullets, which killed a Swedish UN employee on Thursday.
“They are still firing, without interruption,’’ said Ben Sylla, who lives near a large military base. “Heavy weapons fire,’’ Sylla said, adding that dozens of families had taken refuge in a nearby school.
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Don't worry, war almost over:
"Abidjan bracing for final battle of Ivory Coast leaders" by Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press / April 4, 2011
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Residents barricaded themselves inside their homes yesterday, blanketing windows and pushing furniture against doors as this country on Africa’s western coast tensely awaited the final battle between the two men who claim the presidency.
If it is between TWO MEN (I'm so sick of personality-driven political coverage and the like) then WHY ARE there all these DEAD PEOPLE?
Fighters backing Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized president, amassed at a tollbooth on the city’s northern edge, preparing for the final assault. Their leader was declared the winner of last November’s election, but Ouattara has not been able to assume office because the outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo, is refusing to yield power.
Water has been cut off to much of Abidjan, and on the empty streets, a handful of women with basins could be seen hurriedly crossing the waterfront highway to reach the lagoon. Men ventured out with plastic bags to scoop up water, holding the bags high in the air to signal to soldiers in firing positions that they were not armed.
Only about 20 miles separates the thousands of pro-Ouattara foot soldiers readying for battle from the lagoonside district where the presidential palace and mansion are located.
A resident of the Cocody neighborhood where the mansion is located said around 700 Gbagbo supporters had gathered at the gates of the compound yesterday to form a human shield to protect the presidential palace. Toussaint Alain, Gbagbo’s representative in Europe, told reporters in Paris that Gbagbo is not giving up.
“President Gbagbo, I have said, is at the residence of the head of state, his usual workplace, and he is managing the crisis with teams that have been put into place to deal with this aggression coming from the outside,’’ Alain said. “It’s not up to America or France to decide who must lead the Ivory Coast.’’
Except it is. Just ask Libya.
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Also see: Ivory Coast Conflict
And we were told there wasn't even going to be a war.
