I guess Obama can't spare any cruise missiles for his brothers in
Central Africa.


latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-ivory-coast-20110403,0,6411165.
story

800 people reportedly massacred in Ivory Coast

From the Associated Press

8:24 AM PDT, April 2, 2011

JOHANNESBURG

More than 800 civilians have been killed in a western Ivory Coast town
where hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers are based, the International
Federation of the Red Cross said Saturday, but the U.N. military
spokesman said he had no information about mass killings there.

The Roman Catholic charity Caritas put the toll at more than 1,000
dead, an estimate reached by its workers who visited the town of
Duekoue on Wednesday.

Spokesman Patrick Nicholson said the killings occurred over three days
in a neighborhood controlled by fighters loyal to internationally
recognized President Alassane Ouattara, though it was not clear who the
perpetrators were.

"The massacre took place in the 'Carrefour' quarter of town, controlled
by pro-Ouattara forces, during clashes on Sunday 27 March to Tuesday 29
March," Nicholson said. "Caritas does not know who was responsible for
the killing, but says a proper investigation must take place to
establish the truth."

He said Caritas workers found that neighborhood filled with bodies of
victims who died from gunshot wounds from small-arms fire or were
hacked to death with machetes. He said those killed were civilians that
included many refugees from fighting elsewhere in the country, where
rival forces were battling over a disputed November election.

Caritas' investigation would indicate that people were killed at close
quarters in a small neighborhood of a town of just 50,000 people as
pro-Ouattara fighters began a two-pronged attack that brought them
swiftly to Abidjan, the commercial capital and seat of power, within
days.

Ouattara's government meanwhile denied its forces were involved in any
atrocities including in western Ivory Coast, without referring to the
latest allegations. Efforts to reach Ouattara's spokesman Saturday were
unsuccessful. He did not respond to calls to his cell phone.

Previously, the United Nations put the death toll at 492 from four
months of fighting to install rival leaders following disputed November
elections.

Col. Chaib Rais, the U.N. military spokesman, told The Associated Press
that nearly 1,000 peacekeepers at Duekoue "are protecting the Catholic
Church with more than 10,000 (refugees) inside, and we have military
camps in the area."

But he said "I have no special report of (mass killings). There was
fighting two days before, on Sunday, and people were killed, but I
cannot confirm those numbers."

Rais said there was fighting in and around the town on Sunday and
Monday, between forces loyal to the rival leaders.

On Monday, fighters loyal to Ouattara said they took Duekoue. But
Nicholson said interviews with survivors indicated pro-Ouattara forces
had control of Carrefour neighborhood from Sunday.

ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said "communal violence" erupted
there, apparently on Tuesday.

International and Ivorian Red Cross teams visited Duekoue Friday and
saw a "huge number of bodies," estimated at more than 800, she said.
The trips by Caritas and the ICRC were separate and independent of each
other.

"We think there is a risk that this kind of event can happen again and
hope that by calling today again for protection for the civilian
population, we hope that such events can be avoided in the future,"
Krimitsas told The Associated Press by phone from Geneva.

The area has been a hotbed for conflict between two tribes that support
rival leaders vying for power in Ivory Coast, the democratically
elected Ouattara and incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to accept
his defeat at November elections which he had postponed for years.

The International Organization of Migration said Friday that tens of
thousands of refugees have overcrowded Duekoue and that others who had
fled the violence in Duekoue "are now stranded along the route, in fear
for their lives."

It said some of those slaughtered apparently were killed by
"mercenaries" from nearby Liberia. Liberian mercenaries have been
reported to be fighting for both Gbagbo and Ouattara.

The Roman Catholic bishop for the area, the Right Rev. Gaspard Beby
Gneba of Man, said he was called by a priest from Guiglo, a town near
Duekoue that also is sheltering refugees. He said the priest told him
refugees were dying and that they were burying two people on Saturday.

Gneba said tensions in the area are a mixture of political, ethnic and
land rivalry, aggravated by the influx of tens of thousands of new
Ivorian refugees and long-established refugees from neighboring
Liberia. In January, an unknown number of people were killed in
violence in which some homes were torched and others looted, he said.

Gneba said more than 30,000 refugees had flooded the town of about
50,000 since January. Many are being sheltered at the Salesian priests'
Mission of St. Theresa of the Baby Jesus.

"There's a traumatic humanitarian situation there," Gneba said. "They
need everything: food, medicine, water, sanitation. People have lost
everything, houses, clothes, they do not even have a mat to sleep on."

Rais, the U.N. colonel, said there are nearly 400 peacekeepers based at
Guiglo who were doing what they could to help with water and food.

Ouattara's government, in a general statement Friday responding to
allegations of abuses by Amnesty International, blamed any killings on
Gbagbo forces acting as they retreated.

Ouattara had long tried to distance himself from the northern-based
fighters taking up his cause who fought in a brief civil war almost a
decade ago that left the country split in two. Those fighters were
accused of many atrocities at the time.

But Ouattara's repeated calls for an international military
intervention to force out Gbagbo and end the violence have gone
unheeded. This week he appeared to change tack as the fighters began a
swift advance on Abidjan, calling the rebels the "Republican Forces."

"The government firmly rejects these accusations and denies all
implication of the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast in any possible
violations," a government statement said Friday.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday saying it had documented
abuses, with the vast majority perpetrated by forces loyal to Gbagbo
against real or perceived Ouattara supporters, as well as against West
African immigrants and Muslims.

"The documented abuses include targeted killings, enforced
disappearances, politically motivated rapes, and unlawful use of lethal
force against unarmed demonstrators," the statement said. "These
abuses, committed over a four-month period by security forces under the
control of Gbagbo and militias loyal to him, may rise to the level of
crimes against humanity."

It was not immediately possible to reach Gbagbo or his ministers.

But the New York-based organization said atrocities committed by
pro-Ouattara forces also could amount to war crimes and crimes against
humanity, including three detainees burned alive and four whose throats
were slit, all in Abidjan.

"Human Rights Watch has also received credible reports of abuses
committed when Ouattara's forces took control of several towns in
western (Ivory Coast)," it said.

In one village near Abidjan, the statement said, at least nine
civilians were killed "in an apparent case of collective punishment
against alleged civilian supporters of Gbagbo."

It added, "The killing of civilians by pro-Ouattara forces, at times
with apparent ethnic or political motivation, also risks becoming a
crime against humanity should it become widespread or systematic."

--

On 04/02/2011 10:11 AM, Gregg wrote:
I guess Obama can't spare any cruise missiles for his brothers in
Central Africa.


It added, "The killing of civilians by pro-Ouattara forces, at times
with apparent ethnic or political motivation, also risks becoming a
crime against humanity should it become widespread or systematic."

--

We only need one fresh war to distract us; any ******** will do. They're
all interchangeable.

On Sat, 02 Apr 2011 11:23:26 -0700, dave wrote:

On 04/02/2011 10:11 AM, Gregg wrote:
I guess Obama can't spare any cruise missiles for his brothers in
Central Africa.


It added, "The killing of civilians by pro-Ouattara forces, at times
with apparent ethnic or political motivation, also risks becoming a
crime against humanity should it become widespread or systematic."

--

We only need one fresh war to distract us; any ******** will do. They're
all interchangeable.
I am waiting for the spin . How will Obama blame this on Bush or
republicans or tea party .

On Apr 3, 6:35*pm, AzzMazta wrote:
On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 13:58:56 -0700 (PDT), RHF wrote:

Whether you like Prez "BO" {Obama} or not : BHO is the
Elected US Prez-A-Duntz and is NOT a "The-N-Word"

Obama is an "N-word" - Nimrod, that is. Also, Nonmoral. Non-patriotic.
Non-Judeo-Christian. Not-American-born. And let's not forget,
Not-electable-in-2012!!

--

Henry Pizzinger Institution
for the Mentally 31337
AzzMazta, Chairman & CEOwww.xcopfly.com

I think I heard in the news BHO just filed some papers for the 2012
elections !

On Apr 3, 7:52*pm, wrote:
On Apr 3, 6:35*pm, AzzMazta wrote:

On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 13:58:56 -0700 (PDT), RHF wrote:

Whether you like Prez "BO" {Obama} or not : BHO is the
Elected US Prez-A-Duntz and is NOT a "The-N-Word"

Obama is an "N-word" - Nimrod, that is. Also, Nonmoral. Non-patriotic.
Non-Judeo-Christian. Not-American-born. And let's not forget,
Not-electable-in-2012!!

--

Henry Pizzinger Institution
for the Mentally 31337
AzzMazta, Chairman & CEOwww.xcopfly.com

I think I heard in the news BHO just filed some papers for the 2012
elections !

I saw it too. The State Department is apparently satisfied that he's a
citz.

Curt

On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:02:47 -0700, Curt wrote:

On Apr 3, 7:52Â*pm, wrote:
On Apr 3, 6:35Â*pm, AzzMazta wrote:

On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 13:58:56 -0700 (PDT), RHF wrote:

Whether you like Prez "BO" {Obama} or not : BHO is the Elected US
Prez-A-Duntz and is NOT a "The-N-Word"

Obama is an "N-word" - Nimrod, that is. Also, Nonmoral.
Non-patriotic. Non-Judeo-Christian. Not-American-born. And let's not
forget, Not-electable-in-2012!!

--

Henry Pizzinger Institution
for the Mentally 31337
AzzMazta, Chairman & CEOwww.xcopfly.com

I think I heard in the news BHO just filed some papers for the 2012
elections !

I saw it too. The State Department is apparently satisfied that he's a
citz.

Curt

Low threshold of proof...again....

On 4/4/2011 8:56 AM, dave wrote:
On 04/03/2011 10:02 PM, Curt wrote:


I saw it too. The State Department is apparently satisfied that he's a
citz.

Curt

It's obvious he is 100% All-American by the way he dresses on vacation.
He is way too dorky to be anything else.

he appears to be on vacation all the time

On 04/04/2011 05:04 AM, Sancho Panza wrote:


What does the State Department have to do with presidential elections?

About as much as birth certificates.

On 04/04/2011 06:03 AM, ExtremeRatSpending wrote:
On 4/4/2011 8:56 AM, dave wrote:
On 04/03/2011 10:02 PM, Curt wrote:


I saw it too. The State Department is apparently satisfied that he's a
citz.

Curt

It's obvious he is 100% All-American by the way he dresses on vacation.
He is way too dorky to be anything else.

he appears to be on vacation all the time

Is that supposed to be "quick" and "witty"? You're just being silly and
juvenile.

On 4/4/2011 8:57 AM, dave wrote:
On 04/03/2011 11:23 PM, Jarbidge wrote:
On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:02:47 -0700, Curt wrote:



I saw it too. The State Department is apparently satisfied that he's a
citz.

Curt

Low threshold of proof...again....

As they are the ones who issue passports their threshold is good enough
for me.

You don't need a U.S. birth certificate to obtain a U.S. passport.