'8 French killed' in Ivory Coast
French destroy Ivorian warplanes after attack
Saturday, November 6, 2004 Posted: 10:39 AM EST (1539 GMT)

Rebel soldier in Bouake, Ivory Coast.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Eight French soldiers were killed when Ivory Coast government warplanes bombed French positions in the rebel-held town of Bouake on Saturday, a United Nations official said.

The French military retaliated by destroying two Ivorian Sukhoi fighter jets on the ground at Yamoussoukro airport, a French military spokesman in Abidjan said.

Government warplanes carried out bombing raids across the rebel-held north for a third day on Saturday, fueling fears of a slide back into full-blown hostilities in the world's top cocoa grower which could threaten a fragile peace in the region.

"Military sources from the U.N. said that two Sukhoi (warplanes) belonging to the Ivorian army have just been destroyed by the French after these aircraft targeted and hit a French target," said Jean-Victor Nkolo, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast.

"Eight were killed and 23 wounded. All were French military," he said.

The French military spokesman said the French barracks in the rebel stronghold of Bouake had been hit, but he had no information on casualties.

Government warplanes attacked Bouake shortly after French and U.N. officials heard reports of machine gun and artillery fire around the city.

"Bombs were dropped by planes (around 1300 GMT) ... and we heard sporadic machine gunfire at the southern entrance to the city," a U.N. official said by telephone from the U.N. peacekeeping base in Bouake.

Ivorian army officers have warned a land invasion would follow the air raids to chase out the rebels who have controlled the north since the war that followed their failed attempt to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002.

Some 10,000 French and U.N. soldiers police the buffer zone around a ceasefire line that separates the rebels from the government-run south.

U.N. peacekeepers stopped two army convoys trying to cross into the buffer zone on Friday, but rebel leaders have accused the multinational force of not doing more to counter the government attacks.

In the northwestern town of Man around a thousand protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at French forces, venting anger at what they saw as the former colonial power's slowness to intervene.

"Two of our vehicles were burned and destroyed. Three stores containing food, water and petrol were burned down," said Henry Aussavy, spokesman for the French troops in Ivory Coast.

Aid workers in the rebel-held western town of Danane, just 27 km (17 miles) from the border with Liberia, said they were preparing for an imminent attack.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Friday the U.N. may beef up the mandate of the peacekeeping troops to prevent fighting between government forces and rebels.

"The secretary general will be left with no choice but to give the forces specific rules of engagement that will allow them to deal with the situation," U.N. spokesman Nkolo said.

"Something is being worked out as we speak and could be delivered today or tomorrow," he said.

The air raids have so far targeted Bouake and at least three towns to the east and west, the first major hostilities since a truce signed in May last year ended fighting which killed thousands and uprooted over a million.

The United Nations said 20 civilians and two rebels were killed in Friday's strikes alone.

The French need to show the warring factions that they mean business.

Looking at France's record in modern warfare, I would say the odds are against the French.

SOOO true rofl 2

classic fanon's theory of neocolonialism, though might not be of direct france's want

2 HEHEHE. Give them a break guys. They are trying to enforce peace in a country sufering from civil war.

doesn't matter what they wanna do. The french are gonna loose.

how many wars do the french have to lose to realize thats not there strong point?

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html 2

^^^ rofl

i'm counting the days untill they loose. they are just a bunch of smelly armpit snail eating frog leg sutffing girls.

Hey that's a cool name. I wish my name was Gbagbo

France is the former colonial power of the Coté d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

I think the French have to be very careful how they tread. They are there to be a neutral force, but since they lost 9 soldiers they have retaliated...

The Ivorians think that France is re-colonising, and warn of a new 'Vietnam'. While the French government has lost its patience with its Ivorian counterpart.

There's no easy solution in sight.

You are so biased in your anti-French views that it clouds your logic.
What would have been a good reaction according to you ?

Taking out the MI 17/24 and the SU25s was the best thing to do, especially for the Ivoirian civilians living in the North who had been repeatedly subjected to their coward terror attacks on purely civilian targets.
The 2 aircrafts and 5 helicopters have been destroyed on the ground, not by some air attack or artillery. They have been attacked by some SF and helicopters. This was probably also choosen to try to limit the losses, they apparently don't wanted to kill the pilots. The French troops have not bombed some barracks, airport installation, radars or ammo dumps ... only the few aircrafts/helos that violated the cease fire were destroyed. Only weaponery were targeted not men.

I would have loved to see the reaction of the USA if 9 US peacekeepers had been killed in an unprovoked attack.

And that's not a war, "only" peacekeeping with the support of UN and others african nations.

whites vs blacks.

The situation is very complex. I know some ivorian friends and nobody knows really what happened. Hasty reasonning are really pitiful.

There are not only french peacekeepers overthere but also onuci forces from morroco and others african countries.And french soldiers have an UNO mandate.




The ivorians don't think that, it's only another dangerous game from the ivorian president. To keep his post he used ethnic divisions (between ivorian black people from the south and the north):that entailed a civil war.
there are 14000 french citizens there and half of them have also the ivorian citizenship.

I would add that ivorian soldiers protected the french civilians and the french soldiers from anti-french rioters.

"You are so biased in your anti-French views that it clouds your logic.
What would have been a good reaction according to you ?

Taking out the MI 17/24 and the SU25s was the best thing to do, especially for the Ivoirian civilians living in the North who had been repeatedly subjected to their coward terror attacks on purely civilian targets.
The 2 aircrafts and 5 helicopters have been destroyed on the ground, not by some air attack or artillery. They have been attacked by some SF and helicopters. This was probably also choosen to try to limit the losses, they apparently don't wanted to kill the pilots. The French troops have not bombed some barracks, airport installation, radars or ammo dumps ... only the few aircrafts/helos that violated the cease fire were destroyed. Only weaponery were targeted not men.

I would have loved to see the reaction of the USA if 9 US peacekeepers had been killed in an unprovoked attack.

And that's not a war, "only" peacekeeping with the support of UN and others african nations. "


Is this some kind of rebuke at me?

If yes, you have made some glaring mistakes:-
*I am NOT anti-French biased. (unlike a lot of Brits who really don't like France).
*I concede that the French peacekeepers have a tough job, and have some sympathy for their actions.
However, ERADICATING the small Ivorian airforce is NOT going to go down well.

For somebody who wants to see North Korea invaded ASAP, you are being overly critical regarding this issue, I have to agree that you might be anti-French, since you're from the UK.

These warplanes strafed French positions WITHOUT provocation and killed 10 soldiers. They could have retaliated the easy way, raze their command&control facilities and airfield down to the ground with bombs and artillery while killing hundreds in the process (I'm sure the US and UK would have done so), but the French showed admirable calm and composure even during this period of great loss, and accepted a greater risk to their own men by opting for a dangerous SF operation to dismantle the aircraft, to minimize loss of lives and collateral damage, even if they be the people who killed their own men.

This is as humane a response to such a situation as you can possibly expect.

I have carefully recosidered. I am going to that the French peacekeepers have done the right thing. For which I admit I was wrong.

In regards to your other points:-
No disrespect, but N.Korea and Ivory Coast are completely different.
a>Ivory Coast doesn't have a vicious dictator in charge of it.
b>The Ivorian government has let peacekeepers in to help, unlike NK who have kicked IAEA inspectors out!

"I have to agree that you might be anti-French, since you're from the UK. "
My initial reaction to this statement was anger. This seemed like a very generalised and xenophobic statement. (It would be like me claiming your were Anti-Japanese or Anti-Chinese just because you are Korean).
However, like I mentioned above, a lot of UK citizens don't like France, and can understand your reasoning. Even if it is NOT the case.

I honestly don't hate France:

My family has been welcomed into a French home before. The couple let us stay in their second home on the Southern French coast for 2 weeks...(this is after the husband having stayed with us the year before).

Since then I have been twice more and enjoyed every minute of it. I have been lucky enough to see various parts of France, all of which have left me impressed.

Agree.France has made temendous improvements in their conduct of war since Algeria.

The Ivory Coast is so fu-ked up its ridiculous....i can't believe the French can't handle it though