Ivory Coast

[ganulv]

– a checkpoint with half-dressed looking buzzards with FNs.

Wow. That’s just… My grandfather who thinks the Voting Rights Act was a step in the wrong direction doesn’t say things like that. Are you so easily provoked that you make yourself look like a refugee from a Kipling novel just to get in a dig at me?

Hunters are by definition anti-social, dangerous, and skilled in the performance of violence (like, you know, soldiers can sometimes be) but I know people who credit them with their lives because of the protection they provided in the initial days of the Ivorian civil war. Calling two men you have never met buzzards leads me to believe you are an ignorant bigot.

[Stan]

Are you so easily provoked that you make yourself look like a refugee from a Kipling novel just to get in a dig at me? Or are you just an unobservant dimwit?

No dig on you, rather the poorly translated article from Jeune Afrique and the bogus stats from the early 90s. As far as these so-called hunters and their garb goes, the picture is typical of Africa and gave me a good chuckle

Hunters are by definition anti-social, dangerous, and skilled in the performance of violence (like, you know, soldiers can sometimes be) but I know people who credit them with their lives because of the protection they provided in the initial days of the Ivorian civil war.

All the hunters and soldiers I know are anti-government and generally very social. Perhaps you mean the African hunters ? I'm sure their physical and armed presence affected crime rates and I'm also very well aware of what they did and probably still do, especially during a civil war when one can always blame the act on the opposing military. I was personally saved by a Zairian buzzard but it wasn't his intent to do so and he wanted some sort of compensation to boot.

Calling two men you have never met buzzards leads me to believe you are an ignorant bigot. Or possibly just an ass of a human. Maybe both.

This is where I feel your lack of time in these places leads you to believe your reading of the events is dead on correct.

Not really a bigot, but have been accused of being an ass by my last three Xs

[Ken White]

I edited your post to remove the unnecessary verbiage, ganulv. You're new so this is a warning with no points assessed but the basic rule is attack the message and not the messenger. You're entitled to your opinion and you can certainly vent it to your monitor but try to avoid putting it in through the keyboard if it entails anything approaching name calling.

Ho, who knew Stan was awake...

So the beat cop can now go back to sleep. You guys be cool -- and my exes weren't nice enough to cal me an ass, there were other anatomical pats involved as I recall...

That would be parts. Can't spell right when asleep...

[M-A Lagrange]

Ok, let's have some anthropology to light our thoughts here.
Hunters in West Africa are a separate social class which most of the time is not really accepted in the villages. Just like the hunters in Canada during the 19th century.

They are skilled with violence: well their job is to hunt wild animals. They use generaly long barrel home made riffles and are therefore quite skilled. (Try to shoot with their guns without get a broken arm and hit the target Not really the same as with a modern semi automatic riffle).

In many wars like Liberia or Sierra Leone, they played an important role as village protectors and scouts. This due to their knowledge of the surrounding environment and to their ethnic group identity.

Finally, saying they are not sociable is an oriented comments as they are excluded from many communities as they are supposed to have magic skills and practice witchcraft.

And finally, i'm not that surprised, just as Stan, to see such troops on both sides. In Europ we had hunters regiments and if you take stricto sensus the mountain infantry, chasseur alpin, their name means hunters from the mountain top.

What we can be glad of is that there's no crazy Taylors boys or But Naked like troops on Ouattara side. Meeting a crazy rasta guy with a marriage dress because he is "dress to kill" (litteraly): that, it's f*&^*$g scary.