IVORY COAST: Ivorian-American soldier Ebe Firmin Emolo, killed in Iraq , returns home for final funeral rites

Record ID: 181144

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Ivorian-American soldier Ebe Firmin Emolo, killed in Iraq , returns home for final funeral rites
  • Date: 30th June 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) ABIDJAN MILITARY AIRPORT, ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (JUNE 28, 2007) (REUTERS) COFFIN DRAPED WITH AMERICAN FLAG ON TROLLY, SURROUNDED BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS WALKING ALONGSIDE FEET OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AMERICAN SOLDIER WALKING ALONGSIDE COFFIN IVORIAN SOLDIERS WITH IVORIAN FLAG READY TO RECEIVE COFFIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR GENERAL, REPRESENTATIVE OF U.S. ARMY'S CHIEF OF
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA4GTSJTXMIVDSASM4UL21DXCHI
  • Story Text: The return of the body of an American soldier killed in Iraq to Ivory Coast has raised eyebrows in the country of his birth. The issue of Africans fighting for foreign militaries has been in the spotlight on the continent, where coups and wars are often connected with mercenary activities. Ivorians had mixed reactions to the arrival of the body. As the body of an American soldier was off-loaded from a U.S. military plane, an American honour guard paid its respects.
    The body of US Army Specialist Ebe Firmin Emolo was not, however, being welcomed home at an airfield somewhere in the U.S. on Thursday (June 28), but at a military airfield in the Ivory Coast.
    Specialist Emolo was originally Ivorian. And that's where he was being returned.
    "Today we return him to his country with great sadness, our deepest appreciation for his service for the United States army," said Major General David T. Zabecki, representative of the U.S. Army's Chief of Staff, who accompanied the body.
    Emolo was killed during military operations in Zaganiyah, Iraq in April.
    "As a soldier, Specialist Emolo was one of the best - a member of the 82nd Airborne division, a Paratrooper who was valued and respected by his fellow paratroopers," added Zabecki.
    Relatives of Specialist Emolo and friends insisted that the American soldier, who was a native of Abengourou, a town North East of the capital Abidjan, should be buried in the country of his birth.
    The U.S. Ambassador to Ivory Coast, Aubrey Hooks, said it was a request that the American government could not refuse.
    "It's a unique situation, because normally American soldiers are buried in the United States, but the family of Chief Corporal Emolo expressed their wish that his body be buried in Ivory Coast, so the Pentagon, the United States military made the necessary arrangements to send his body to Ivory Coast," said Hooks.
    Ivorians were surprised to learn that one of their countrymen had died in Iraq. The issue of Africans fighting in foreign wars has been in the spotlight on the continent, after South African nationals were arrested in connection with an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea in 2004.
    South Africa has banned its nationals from fighting for anyone other than the South African National Defence Force and has even banned its nationals from visiting a war zone, in any role.
    Ivory Coast is still finding its way from a two-year civil war between rebels and the government that split the country in two and killed thousands of people.
    On Friday (June 29), news of the body's arrival raised a few eyebrows.
    "I find that awkward, because normally if you are Ivorian, people should come fight for us and not go do something else. If they have gone out to work, then let them work. But to go there to go to war, whilst here we are getting killed," said, Lazard Mambe, a businessman in Abidjan.
    But other Ivorians felt that Emolo had the right to chose any work, anywhere.
    "The world has become a global village, and based on that I say that everyone has a calling to go earn their living elsewhere. If we can't find it here, we need to go find it somewhere else, I think maybe that's why he went out there, in search of work. For him, that was his work. Working is good, in working in the army, maybe he found his way of fulfilling his needs," said Lathe Sie, a Technician in Abidjan.
    Emolo joined the U.S army in February 2005.
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