IVORY COAST: LEADER OF YOUNG PATRIOTS CHARLES BLEGOUDE CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF FRENCH TROOPS

Record ID: 183653

  • Title: IVORY COAST: LEADER OF YOUNG PATRIOTS CHARLES BLEGOUDE CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF FRENCH TROOPS
  • Date: 17th November 2004
  • Summary: (EU) ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (NOVEMBER 15, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV YOUNG PATRIOT LEADERS AND MILITANTS CHANTING NATIONALIST ANTHEMS; SLV AUDIENCE LISTENING TO BLEGOUDE'S SPEECH 0.12 2. SOUNDBITE (French) CHARLES BLEGOUDE SAYING: "Do you think that the French army is still credible as a referee? I don't think it is. France is now one of the belligerents. I wish Mr Chirac would lay aside his pride and think about the interests of Ivorian people and simply ask his soldiers to pull out." 0.33 3. SLV AUDIENCE LISTENING 0.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Reuters ID: LVAAUY618402LCAMYF67SN8LI033
  • Story Text: Charles Blegoude, leader of the pro-Gbagbo Young
    Patriots calls for withdrawal of French troops.

    Firebrand youth leader Charles Ble Goude, one of
    those who went on state television to call anti-French
    protesters onto the streets, said France should pull out of
    Ivory Coast.

    "Do you think that the French army is still credible as
    a referee? I don't think it is," he told a news conference.

    "France is now one of the belligerents."
    Ble Goude's call came as France used diplomacy seeking
    a vote in the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms
    embargo and other bans on Ivory Coast after a cease-fire
    was broken and nine French soldiers were killed by
    government bombings.

    The vote, which may take place late on Monday
    afternoon, was delayed last week to give African Union
    officials a chance to negotiate a truce between rebels, who
    control the north of the country, and the government, which
    holds the south.

    Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the
    53-member African Union has asked South African President
    Thabo Mbeki to lead the efforts to end the conflict in the
    once stable and prosperous West African country.

    Mbeki is due to meet Ivory Coast rebel leader Guillaume
    Soro soon. South Africa is also arranging a summit that
    could bring Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel
    and opposition groups together in Abidjan within two to
    three weeks.

    Despite diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict in a
    peaceful way, the situation remained tense. Ivory Coast's
    rebels pledged on Monday to drive President Laurent
    Gbagbo's army back to the main city Abidjan if it attacks
    their territory again, raising the spectre of all-out war
    in the West African country.

    Hopes for a peaceful end to the stalemate between the
    two camps crumbled earlier this month when the army
    attacked the rebel-held north, breaking a fragile 18-month
    truce and plunging the world's top cocoa grower into chaos.

    The army offensive came to an abrupt halt more than a
    week ago when French troops crippled Ivory Coast's small
    air force in retaliation for the killing of nine French
    peacekeepers in a bombing raid on the rebel-held town of
    Bouake.

    The French response sparked days of violence, including
    rapes, machete attacks and looting, by Ivorian militants
    against French and other foreign citizens, prompting
    thousands to flee a country once regarded as a model of
    stability and prosperity.


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