- News>
- World
French soldiers` deaths in Ivory Coast raise tensions
Abidjan, Aug 27: The deaths of two French peacekeepers in Ivory Coast and the arrest of 10 people accused of plotting a new coup in the West African country have fueled tensions in the former French colony, still divided nearly one year after a rebellion.
Abidjan, Aug 27: The deaths of two French peacekeepers in Ivory Coast and the arrest of 10 people accused of plotting a new coup in the West African country have fueled tensions in the former French colony, still divided nearly one year after a rebellion.
Ivory Coast has been languishing in a no-man's land somewhere between war and peace since a French-brokered pact signed in January tried to end the rebellion launched last
September by including the rebels in a reconciliation government.
The announcement yesterday that two French soldiers had been killed by rebels in central Ivory Coast - the first members of a 4,000-strong French peacekeeping force to be killed here since their deployment late last year to monitor a truce - further unmoored an already unstable environment. So, too, did a statement from Paris on Monday saying France had foiled a coup plot by arresting 10 people, including ibrahim coulibaly, one of the leaders of a 1999 Putsch, as they were about to launch a fresh attempt at a coup.
Coulibaly has been accused of being one of the driving forces behind last year's rebellion, which quickly developed into a low-level civil war and crippled the cocoa-based economy in Ivory Coast, once an economic powerhouse and model of stability for Western Africa. He is expected to appear in a paris court today before an anti-terrorist judge, along with seven other alleged coup fomenters arrested by French police.
Bureau Report
The announcement yesterday that two French soldiers had been killed by rebels in central Ivory Coast - the first members of a 4,000-strong French peacekeeping force to be killed here since their deployment late last year to monitor a truce - further unmoored an already unstable environment. So, too, did a statement from Paris on Monday saying France had foiled a coup plot by arresting 10 people, including ibrahim coulibaly, one of the leaders of a 1999 Putsch, as they were about to launch a fresh attempt at a coup.
Coulibaly has been accused of being one of the driving forces behind last year's rebellion, which quickly developed into a low-level civil war and crippled the cocoa-based economy in Ivory Coast, once an economic powerhouse and model of stability for Western Africa. He is expected to appear in a paris court today before an anti-terrorist judge, along with seven other alleged coup fomenters arrested by French police.
Bureau Report