Gbagbo Urges Ivory Coast Resistance After Attack Kills 30 People in Market

Folks,

Gbagbo must be forced out of public office of the Presidency immediately and must be made to account for all the lives his is shelling down. The people of the world and all world leaders must begin to put pressure on Gbagbo because he is a spoiler and a bad rotten tomato. He must be charged for genocide and treason at the ICC Hague immediately and Ocampo must go for him now before many more people perish from his mad behavior.

He has had enough of a road-show and this must be put to a halting stop. Many innocent people are suffering as a result of his stubbonness to vacate office responsibly after he was defeated in the election.

People are loosing loved ones in an unnecessary conflict there which must end now.

Everyone in the world must now stand up make noise and demonstrate firm support to force Gbagbo out of office with immediate effect and have him charged to compensate for his unacceptable evil behaviours.

Thank you all,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Gbagbo Urges Ivory Coast Resistance After Attack Kills 30 People in Market

By Pauline Bax and Olivier Monnier – Mar 18, 2011 9:21 PM ET

Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, called on the population to “fight the rebels” after forces loyal to him shelled a market this week in Abidjan, killing as many as 30 people.

“Rebels are hidden in the civilian society, so we ask the people to collaborate with us, and let us inform so as to locate the rebels whom we consider terrorists,” Ahoua Don Mello, spokesman for Gbagbo’s government, said by phone from Abidjan.

At least six 81-millimeter (3.2-inch) mortar shells were fired from a military camp on March 17, the United Nations Mission in Ivory Coast said in e-mailed statements. Between 25 and 30 people were killed and as many as 60 injured, it said.

The Abidjan suburb of Abobo is a stronghold of Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 presidential election.

“Such an act, perpetrated against civilians, could constitute a crime against humanity,” the UN said.

The Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, has been gripped by a political crisis since the electoral commission named Ouattara the election winner and Gbagbo refused to cede power. Clashes intensified in recent weeks between forces loyal to the leaders, bringing the West African nation to the brink of civil war. At least 435 people have died since mid-December, according to the UN.

In a statement released last night in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. condemned Gbagbo’s “continued attacks on unarmed civilians” and demanded “an immediate end to this brutality.” Gbagbo’s “incendiary rhetoric stands in sharp contrast to President Ouattara’s appeal for calm and restraint,” she said.

Midnight Visit

Residents of at least three shantytowns in Abidjan’s suburb of Cocody said they had been threatened by pro-Gbagbo militias claiming to search for rebels.

“Just after midnight our neighborhood received a visit from pro-Gbagbo youth accusing us of hiding rebels,” Idriss Yanobo, who is originally from Burkina Faso, said in a telephone interview. “I want to leave the area but I have nowhere else to go.”

Armed pro-Gbagbo forces also surrounded a shantytown in the center of Cocody yesterday, a witness said.

“Some of them were carrying Kalashnikovs and they surrounded the town. They did not shoot, but it looked very threatening,” said Arouna Ouadrago, a resident, by phone.

A number of those killed in the shelling were women and children, Amnesty International said in an e-mailed statement, citing unidentified people it said were witnesses.

“The security forces responsible for this appalling shelling must immediately end the use of force that causes the deaths and injuries of people going about their daily lives,” said Veronique Aubert, deputy director for Africa at the London- based rights group, according to the statement.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the attack as “abhorrent” and called for Ouattara to take up “his rightful position” as president, according to an e-mailed statement.

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