← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · PENN
Thread ID: 4149 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2002-12-22
2002-12-22 15:18 | User Profile
"Although the French peacekeepers will argue otherwise, Saturday's battle against the Ivorian rebels has marked a change in their role in the war-torn Ivory Coast.
The French army first moved out of its barracks in its former colony shortly after the uprising broke out more than three months ago.
They said then that they were protecting foreigners, including 20,000 French citizens living in the country, and that is what they say they were doing on this occasion, by stopping the rebels moving further south.
But this was the first time the French have fought to stop a rebel advance - and they did it while the Ivory Coast army were taking shelter behind their lines. "
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[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2598089.stm]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2598089.stm[/url]
2002-12-23 11:34 | User Profile
**French forces open fire on rebels in western Ivory Coast **
DUEKOUE, Ivory Coast (AP) French forces opened fire Saturday on rebels in western Ivory Coast, trying to stop the insurgents from pushing past them toward the commercial capital Abidjan, the prize in the fight for control of West Africa's key nation.
Fighting reached within a half-mile of the western city of Duekoue, and residents could hear gunfire in the distance. French forces had set up a major position on the city's outskirts to block the rebel advance.
In the first minutes of fighting, witnesses saw French guns hit three cars of rebels. At their base at a school, French troops loaded mortars on trucks to rush to the battle. Ivorian soldiers were also fighting the rebels.
The battle appeared to be the gravest engagement by French forces sent to intervene in the rapidly escalating three-month conflict in Ivory Coast, a former French colony.
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[url=http://www.boston.com/dailynews/355/world/French_forces_open_fire_on_reb:.shtml]http://www.boston.com/dailynews/355/world/...e_on_reb:.shtml[/url]