The Hindu : French troops move in to protect children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 26, 2002

International

International

French troops move in to protect children

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris Sept. 25 . Even as French paratroopers moved in to protect students and staff of a missionary school in the central town of Bouake, noisy anti-French and anti-American demonstrations shook Abidjan, the capital of the Western African state of Ivory Coast.

French soldiers today threw a security ring around the school in the central town of Bouake where rebels are still holding out in after a coup attempt failed last Thursday.

About 170 foreigners, mainly Americans, remain holed up at the school as fighting between rebels and government forces continues to rage. There are about 100 children among them. The school, which lies between rebel and army positions, came under fire on Tuesday and U.S. troops began moving from neighbouring Ghana to the Ivory Coast in order to evacuate the children and the school staff should this prove necessary.

``For the moment there is no word about evacuation,'' Michel Cousineau, the French commander in charge of security at the school told journalists. "The school staff are happy to receive protection and they now feel safe''.

Almost a week after a failed coup in the Ivory Coast the situation there remains tense. The Ivorian authorities have accused neighbouring Burkina Faso of being directly responsible for the instability that has now become chronic. Last week's coup claimed several lives including those of the Ivorian Interior Minister and former dictator and rebel leader, Robert Guei, who has been blamed for orchestrating simultaneous uprisings in three cities, the capital Abidjan, Bouake in the centre and Korhogo in the north. A pro government newspaper has openly accused the Burkina Faso President, Blaise Campaore, of encouraging and arming the rebels.

Several Burkina Faso migrants living and working in the relatively better off Ivory Coast became the object of persecution at the hands of paramilitary militias in Abidjan earlier this week. The President, Gbagbo, was out of the country when the attempted coup took place.

The French Government said it would back diplomatic efforts to restore order and that the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, would attend a regional summit meeting in Morocco on Thursday. France has intervened militarily before and the French foreign affairs spokesman was tight-lipped about the role French soldiers are to play in the present crisis. "French troops are there as a preventive measure, as a precaution a technical measure for the safety of French nationals in Cote d'Ivoire. The perimeter of the action for the mission is clearly limited. As long as we consider there is a risk, the units will stay.

The Former Ivorian Prime Minister, Alassane Ouattara, had sought refuge in the residence of the French Ambassador in Abidjan. The present Ivorian crisis is also a settling of old scores and Mr. Ouattara's opponents have also been protesting against the French decision to give him protection and refuge.

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