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29 Nov 2011 20:01

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World: Ex-Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo in International Criminal Court custody

Gbagbo, who lost an election last year but only ceded power by force, is heading to The Hague as we speak, charged with crimes against humanity as a result of violence that broke out after that election. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Apr 2011 12:53

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World: Gbagbo’s forces not done fighting in Abidjan

  • yesterday Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the elected leader of the Ivory Coast, stormed into Abidjan to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who has waged a bloody battle to stay in power. The Ouattara forces were thought to be quite close to ousting Gbagbo.
  • today The Red Cross says that some 800 people have been massacred in the  town of Duekoue, while Gbagbo has gained ground by retaking the state T.V. network, a powerful outlet that has been accused of inciting violence during the conflict.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 21:15

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World: Did the Ivory Coast break a UN embargo to buy helicopters?

  • three the number of attack helicopters the Ivory Coast’s president, Laurent Gbagbo, may have received from Belarus recently
  • zero the number of helicopters Gbagbo’s government is supposed to be able to get, according to the UN’s 2004 arms embargo on the country; oops source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:28

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Biz, World: Ivory Coast leaders fighting with chocolate, in non-funny way

  • cause Internationally-recognized Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara, in an effort to starve still-clinging loser Laurent Gbagbo of cash, has decided to block all exports of cocoa from the country for a month. Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer, by the way.
  • reaction An immediate effect of the export ban? Cocoa prices have gone way up on the commodities market – a 3.4 percent leap in just a day. Many are afraid of a potential market disruption. Some experts, however, suggest that the market is just overreacting to the news. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:15

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World: Did mob attack on Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara fizzle out?

  • Everything is calm at the hotel, we’re very serene.
  • Alassane Ouattara spokesperson Patrick Achi • Expressing relief that the planned mob attack of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where the Ivory Coast’s should-be leader is staying, seems to have fizzled out. We’re glad it did too, because it could’ve led to fresh civil war in the country. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen. In other news, current leader Laurent Gbagbo unsurprisingly ignored a deadline to quit on New Year’s Eve. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Dec 2010 17:19

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World: Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo blames his problems on the West

  • The man of the hour: Here’s an interview Euronews got with Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast leader fighting for his political life and consequently pushing a civil war. Warning: The interview is in French (with translation). Key thing to take from this: “It’s not open to debate. What the West is arguing for is not legal. It’s imposing the will of the powerful on somebody else. I don’t agree with it.” So in other words, because the West (i.e. the United Nations) noticed that your electoral results are questionable, it’s all of a sudden invalid? Yeah, right. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Dec 2010 13:35

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World: Ivory Coast could celebrate new year by falling further into abyss

  • A few things happen on January 1st, guys. First of all, it’s the new year, which is always sort of a big deal. Secondly, it’s the site’s second anniversary, which means we expect cake, but probably won’t get it because nobody cares enough about this site to make a cake. But third, and most importantly, some really crazy stuff could go down in the Ivory Coast. See, supporters of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara are holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, but supporters of Laurent Gbagbo are talking about plans to “liberate” the hotel on the first of the year, leading the UN’s new envoy to the country to say things like “on the brink of genocide.” This could be extremely bad, and we’d rather have a crappy anniversary that everyone ignores than to see a country like the Ivory Coast, which has been through hell and civil war, fall into that trap again thanks to the current unrest being caused by Gbagbo’s controversial hold on power. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Dec 2010 21:43

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World: International pressure keeps up on Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo

  • He may very well be trying to ignore us and be hoping that we’ll forget and go away or focus on another issue. I can only remind him that this is a unanimous international community. We’re not going away, and we’re not going to forget this.
  • U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs William Fitzgerald • Pointing out that Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo picked the wrong international community to mess with. Fitzgerald’s words should have teeth, and so do American actions (we put strong sanctions on Gbagbo), but considering all of the human rights atrocities that have happened in Africa on the international community’s watch (Rwanda, Darfur, ZImbabwe, so on, so forth), can we really trust this? Seems like these words have a tinge of emptiness. Mind you, we hope things change this time, but where’s the evidence things will? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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