COTE D'IVOIRE 8/6/2004 15:20 RENEWED TENSION: REBEL ATTACKS, GOVERNMENT COUNTEROFFENSIVE AND VIOLENCE General, Standard Tension has escalated in the Ivory Coast, where in just over 24 hours the former rebels of the north launched an attack against the French contingent and the Ivorian military, the response of the regular armed forces with an air strike against anti-government posts and acts of violence conducted by the riotous supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo against the French Embassy and other offices in the economic capital of Abidjan. All the violence broke out while the Head of State was on a private visit in the United States. This morning the streets of the centre of the main city of the nation were patrolled by dozens of police officers, after the attacks perpetrated yesterday by the pro-government âyoung patriotsâ that launched stones against the French diplomatic building and burned tires in the Plateau neighbourhood, the zone of Abidjan that hosts also other international diplomatic buildings. According to some sources, many foreigners in the area were subject to a âwhite man huntâ, not a new practice for the group, considered extremist and ultra-violent. The government last night âfirmly condemnedâ this ulterior episode. Meanwhile, in the same hours government aviation helicopters bombed posts of the âNew Forcesâ, the cartel that unites the three armed movements that in September 2002 rose against Ivorian President Gbagbo and that still control the central-north of the Ivory Coast. Armed Forces spokesman Jules Yao Yao confirmed the attack: âWe conducted incursions against military posts; we believe there are victims and five vehicles were destroyedâ. The chief of staff of the former rebellion admitted that his forces suffered 12 superficial injuries. The offensive was launched in retaliation to the attack conducted Sunday night and yesterday morning by the rebels against the French contingent (around 4,000 soldiers) and against military posts in the area of Gohitafla, in the buffer zone of 400km that cuts the Ivory Coast horizontally in two parts. According to military sources, there were victims on both sides: at least 5 soldiers were killed and 4 wounded; also 15 assailants and 2 civilians were killed, while another 15 people that attacked government troops were arrested. The French peace force referred that two soldiers were wounded. The Ivory Coast, a nation which counts over 16-million inhabitants and worldâs first cacao producer, in the past months has been divided in two parts, the central-north controlled by the âNew Forcesâ and the south, under government command; despite the participation of the former rebellion in the government of national unity, for the moment there are no signs of a solution to the long crisis. A UN peace mission has been present for various months and will count over 6-thousand peacekeepers, but not all have been deployed yet. [BO]
