Behind the Ivory Coast Massacre: Obama-Supported Opposition Forces Slaughter Hundreds in Duékoué
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 7:59 PM
Hundreds of Christians were slaughtered this week outside the Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission in Duékoué, Ivory Coast. Rebel troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara were behind the massacre. The attackers seem to have been largely soldiers descended from Burkina Faso immigrant Muslim families loyal to Ouattara. They moved into Duékoué last week and murdered hundreds of civilians in the street.
Thousands of refugees from the Ivory Coast in Liberia reported that the pro-Quattara Muslim rebels are killing people and raping women, “They are killing everyone and anyone.”
(Aljazeera)
IRIN reported more on the violence:
Residents of Duékoué said the killings on 30 March were a “settling of scores” facilitated by the capture of the town by pro-Ouattara forces.
Ouattara has denied his forces are responsible for the deaths of over 800 civilians, but the internationally recognized president is facing tough questions from human rights groups, the UN and several of the governments that rapidly endorsed him after the November 2010 election against incumbent Gbagbo.
The Ouattara camp says the charges are unfounded and malicious and that the worst of the violence in Duékoué was carried out by pro-Gbagbo forces. However, Ouattara has promised an investigation and said he welcomed an international inquiry.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic arrived in Côte d’Ivoire this week to look at the situation in the west.
Duékoué was one of several towns to fall in recent days to pro-Ouattara troops now calling themselves the Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI).
According to reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies at least 800 people were killed in the Duékoué fighting. While details are sketchy, most victims appear to have been from the local Guéré community, traditionally Gbagbo supporters.
Some Duékoué residents contacted by IRIN blamed the killings on farmers living in encampments outside Duékoué – on land they have worked for decades – whom the Guéré have sought to oust since Gbagbo’s arrival in power.
Gbagbo sought to annul land leases to Burkinabé, Baoulé and other groups working the coffee and cocoa plantations, in favour of previous Guéré owners and their descendants. “These killings were a settling of scores,” one Guéré man said. “People came and killed the [mainly Wobé and Guéré] landowners.” Residents said people came to the town after the FRCI, armed primarily with hunting rifles and machetes.
The man, who preferred anonymity, said pro-Ouattara forces must account for the incident. “Truly, we do not understand. Someone with the FRCI must explain to us why, just after they came through, these killings happened.”
Most of the killings reportedly were in the Carréfour neighbourhood – known as a base for pro-Gbagbo militia. Residents said the militia had fled and innocent civilians were left behind. “[Groups who work the land] are taking advantage of the presence of the FRCI to eliminate as many [locals] as possible in order to control the land,” said one of the thousands of residents who have sought refuge at the Catholic mission in Duékoué.
Residents said all homes in Carréfour were burned and homes in other neighbourhoods pillaged.
Residents of Duékoué said two days after the killings the new FRCI authorities sent a griot – a traditional West African poet, musician and storyteller – through the town calling for calm, urging people to return to their normal activities and stressing the town was now secure. But the griot also passed on strong warnings: “Anyone found armed but not belonging to the FRCI will be disarmed. Anyone caught stealing will be killed, without exception.”
The Malinke people of West Africa are mostly Muslim.
The Obama Administration supports the Quattara opposition.
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Published May 22, 2012 at 5:04 am - 81 Comments
xqqme commented:
Mass murder of Christians always approved by ‘progressives’
BigAlSouth commented:
Who said this?
“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and – more profoundly – our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”
Same guy who said this:
“Words. Just words.”
Chisum commented:
Big Al South,
Governor Deval Patrick?
Chisum commented:
From 10/15/06
http://blip.tv/file/87278/
HadEnough commented:
I feel like I’m watching a poorly made James Bond 007 film with one of the corrupt leaders sitting in the WH and laughing at the American people every night as he turns to Soros and asks what he should do next. When will we all finally wake up? Many say it is already too late and the evil has been set in motion.
squeaky commented:
“Many say it is already too late and the evil has been set in motion.”
[If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." -- Winston Churchill ]
Mike O commented:
Again, this is a TRIBAL thing; Christians were among those massacred, they were not targeted. “These killings were a settling of scores,” one Guéré man said. “People came and killed the [mainly Wobé and Guéré] landowners.” The killers were from a tribal that is more Muslim than not, but not fanatical about it. The Congo is full of marginally Christian groups slaughtering each other, as they’ve done for decades there.
Trying to make this an extension of the insanity of the Islamic areas to the North and East of sub-sahara regions is to remain ignorant of the different insanity that afflicts this region.
Susan commented:
I could say something idiotic like “blood is on Bill O’Reilly’s Catholic hands because the Catholic CHurch in the Ivory Coast is offending Muslims to the point that angery Muslims must slaughter thousands of innocent civilians’…
but then I’m not an idiotic dhimmi like ‘fair and balanced’ Bill O’Reilly
Petrakore commented:
squeaky #6
Thank you for the Churchill quote. It made me cry. Where is our Churchill today?
Please, dear Lord don’t let our situation get to this point as Winston Churchill posited so many years ago when Britain was so close to going under -
“There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
I pray we will know exactly when the time is right to fight for a victory that is sure but not too costly. And I pray that we haven’t yet reached that threshold where we will be fighting with only a small chance of survival.
wanumba commented:
Just an aside tidbit. It’s Ouattara – Sounds like Watara.
wanumba commented:
It’s quite possible Ouattara’s forces didn’t have anything to do with this. But this is the problem, under the cover of Ouattara’s Muslim tribal supporters can in come the related Muslims with axes to grind and easily infiltrated by Al Qaeda.
It’s the long term picture that’s of concern to the Western Allies. THe Muslim conquest of the north will have finally been extended south to the coast. All of West AFrica has this dual nature – Muslim north, CHristian/animist south.
Petrakore commented:
Here are some very good pics of Ouattara’s fighting force:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1374091/Ivory-Coast-civil-war-Steely-stares-frontline-soldiers-good-guys.html
Up close and personal. They look pretty determined to me. Very fit and very well fed.
midnight rider commented:
Mike O is correct on this one. This is not religiously motivated, unlike the slaughter of Christians in the rest of the MENA. “Again, this is a TRIBAL thing; Christians were among those massacred, they were not targeted.”
Additionally, Ouattara is the “elected” president and recognized as such by the international community. He is not the opposition. Outgoing president Gbagbo, who refuses to be outgoing, is the “opposition”.
And whether Gbagbo stays or goes will likely have little effect.
All that said, this is not a defense of the actions of either side, just a clearing of the facts.
midnight rider commented:
just posting this to correct the link to our blog in my name
BigAlSouth commented:
Chisum (#3, #4):
Actually, I was referring to Obama pulling a Biden and plagiarizing Deval Patrick’s speech.
Checkit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6x1H08aFc
Check Mate
bg commented:
++
Hundreds killed by Ouattara troops at Duekoue, UN says
[Catholic charity Caritas later said that 1,000 people had been killed
or 'disappeared' in Duekoue, where mass graves were reportedly found
after heavy fighting.
The International Federation of Human Rights "confirmed the existence
of massacres in the town of Duekoue" but said the toll corresponded
to the four previous months.
fits this info like a glove..
ie: [Outside Cote d’Ivoire, Blaise Compaore used the rebellion to raise issues about the new laws in Cote d’Ivoire that deprived many of his compatriots of their wealth in Cote d’Ivoire. According to reports from Radio France, he was instrumental in getting cash from Kaddafi and arms from Taylor to the rebels. Liberian military personnel, both as mercenaries or regular Liberian government troops according to the Ivorian minister of Defense, joined some soldiers on the West to open a new front and create a new faction.]
==
bg commented:
++
BigAlSouth #15
bit more here and here..
==
bg commented:
++
BigAlSouth #2
re: [Who said this?
“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and – more profoundly
– our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances
would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to
turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of
America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of
slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”]
same person who said this..
“Now let me be clear — I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a
brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure
his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN
inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted
nuclear capacity. He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be
better off without him.”
this..
“I’ve never said that troops should be withdrawn. What I’ve said is, is
that we’ve got to make sure that we secure and execute the rebuilding
and reconstruction process effectively and properly, and I don’t think
we should have an artificial deadline when to do that.”
and this..
==
BigAlSouth commented:
BG: #s 17 & 18
More words. Just words . . .
BH commented:
Daniel Greenberg, in one of his articles, used these phrases: “thickets of words” and “dense formalities” that the leftist apologists use to subterfuge the issues. Obama is the worst president we have ever had. Thanks BigAlSouth for the great quote from Churchill. When nothing is TRUE everything is permitted.