Waving knives and machetes, pro-government mobs extended their siege of France’s main military base in CÃŽte d’Ivoire for a second day on Tuesday —demanding that French peacekeepers withdraw from the former French colony to allow government forces to resume attacks on rebels. Hundreds of demonstrators — better armed on Tuesday, after carrying only rocks and planks on Monday — lit bonfires in the streets and heaved stones over barracks walls bristling with razor wire. For a second day, French soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd, which started gathering on Monday at the base in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan. Pro-government militias also delivered an ultimatum on Tuesday to the French: French peacekeepers had until 2000 on Tuesday to withdraw from the West African nation’s ceasefire lines. If not, militia leaders and youth groups said, their fighters would open attacks on the estimated 16 000 French civilians and 4 000 French troops living in Ivory Coast. "All that is French will be attacked," pledged Narcisse N’Depo, a youth leader outside the French military base.
You attack the FFL and you aren’t gonna get any older.
French diplomats refused immediate comment on the threat, and it was unclear how big a following the militias had, to carry out the ultimatum.
Not enough to overrun the French base, but enough to turn the civilians into mincemeat. |