Ivory Coast

[JMA]

$billion of aid pledged, hundreds killed, thousands more brutalised (raped and assaulted) a million plus refugees or internally displaced.

Man, was this situation badly handled by the UN.

[JMA]

Peter Godwin writing in a New York Times op-ed - Making Mugabe Laugh - states:

Zimbabweans need help if their voices are to be heard. If the United States wants to prove that Mrs. Clinton’s words were more than empty rhetoric, it should begin by pressuring South Africa. Otherwise Zimbabwe’s hopes for freedom will founder, even as Ivory Coast regains its stolen democracy.

While Godwin understands the dynamics of whats happening on the ground in Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe and that Clinton made an idiot statement sadly if he is expecting any effective political effort from the US he will wait a long time.

Clinton seems to believe that the eviction of Gbagbo sent:

“a strong signal to dictators and tyrants throughout the region and around the world. They may not disregard the voice of their own people in free and fair elections, and there will be consequences for those who cling to power.”

Is this woman and the US State Department for real?

What dictators out of Africa and beyond have learned from the Ivory Coast is that if you want to stay in power you don't hold United Nations-supervised free and fair elections.

They probably sing in unison that Gbagbo got what he deserved. Watch Mugabe, no United Nations-supervised elections for him.

[Stan]

JMA,
She is for real and is the State Dept.

No worries, Mate. In a few years we will all be back here discussing the very same subject as if this was all about some North vs South problem and we will continue to use the mantra of free and fair elections (which we know is BS in Africa) and claim we solved something.

Ignorance is bliss !

[JMA]

JMA,
She is for real and is the State Dept.

Stan, you ever see the movie Blade Runner (1982)? I reckon she be one of those replicants Harrison Ford was after. Watch her face next time she talks on TV. The lights are on but there is nobody at home.

No worries, Mate. In a few years we will all be back here discussing the very same subject as if this was all about some North vs South problem and we will continue to use the mantra of free and fair elections (which we know is BS in Africa) and claim we solved something.

Ignorance is bliss !

You may be interested that the Army in Burkina Faso are having a little "fun" as a result of a pay dispute - Soldiers' unrest spreads east, north Burkina Faso

And the now quite predictable dispute over election results in Nigeria - Nigeria election: Thousand flee after riots

...every time a coconut

[Stan]

You may be interested that the Army in Burkina Faso are having a little "fun" as a result of a pay dispute - Soldiers' unrest spreads east, north Burkina Faso

JMA,
Yep, sounds like African military payday to me too

Unrest continued in Burkina Faso on Saturday for the third straight day as soldiers fired into the air and pillaged shops and market stalls while angry vendors set fire to the ruling party headquarters. There was widespread violence overnight in the capital Ouagadougou when soldiers started shooting wildly shortly after President Blaise Compaore dissolved his government and named a new army chief .

[M-A Lagrange]

Well Burkina is an interresting case as it's not connected with IC.

But it's a good exemple of old fathion african governance with a president who came in power after a coup and ss elected president whitout opposition since ever. Finally Blaise even forgets to treat his troops right (the reason he did revolt in his youth). And wil probably end up with a socially lead revolution because he has been leasy.

[Stan]

Or, just another day in Africa following free and fair elections with an ousted dictator and hungry troops ?

Jeez, who'd of thought - road blocks with armed buzzards (oh, that must have been me )

Mr Coulibaly, a former bodyguard of President Ouattara, now says he wants recognition for the role he played in overthrowing Mr Gbagbo.

But his forces are accused of being responsible for much of the widespread looting of businesses and vehicles over the past week and also of charging motorists using the road north of Abidjan, our reporter says.

In an apparently unrelated incident, there was also shooting on Wednesday in the south-western port of San Pedro in another internal dispute between pro-Ouattara forces.