World: Ivory Coast’s Ouattara has a mess on his hands in Abidjan
- Until we can convince the population it is not a witch hunt, they won’t come forward. We’re working on it. But once the amnesty expires, we will let the law deal with anyone who doesn’t cooperate.
- Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara • Describing some of the troubles he faces with calming down the situation in Abidjan after the capture of Laurent Gbagbo yesterday. He needs to assure that those nervous after the street violence understand that there’s a period of amnesty for those who come forward, and that things will calm down after this point. In other words: Cool your jets. It’s a pretty rough stigma to live down, as Mamadou Senogo, a person in a French refugee camp notes: “I will be staying at the French army base camp until the whole city is secure. There are too many hotheads running around with guns outside.” source