- Title: IVORY COAST: TENSION: FIGHTING REPORTED ON BORDER WITH LIBERIA.
- Date: 23rd January 2003
- Summary: (EU) VILLAGE OF DJITOU CLOSE TO THE LIBERIAN BORDER (JANUARY 17, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: IVORY COAST MAN OPENS MAKESHIFT BARRIER NEAR LIBERIAN BORDER TO ALLOW TRAFFIC TO PASS 0.05 2. MV: VILLAGE WARRIOR AT CHECKPOINT WITH HIS FACE PAINTED WHITE, SIGNALLING HE IS READY TO RESPOND TO ANY CRISIS 0.09 3. GV/PAN: VILLAGE WARRIOR WITH A HUNTING RIFLE WALKS ACROSS THE CHECKPOINT 0.13 4. MV: LIBERIAN REFUGEES, WHO ARE ABOUT TO RETURN TO THEIR COUNTRY BECAUSE OF IVORY COAST'S CIVIL WAR 0.17 (EU) VILLAGE OF PROLLO (JANUARY 17, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. GV: IVORIANS WATCHING AS FRENCH ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER MOVES THROUGH BORDER VILLAGE OF PROLLO (2 SHOTS) 0.26 6. GV/MV/CU: WARRIORS IN PROLLO VILLAGE ARMED WITH HUNTING RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES (3 SHOTS) 0.37 7. MCU: SOUNDBITE (French) SIMPLICE KAKAO, VILLAGE WARRIOR, SAYING: "We are here. We are here to protect the village since we are close to the border." 0.44 8. GV/MV: FRENCH LEGIONNAIRE LOOKS ACROSS THE RIVER CAVALLY THAT RUNS FROM IVORY COAST INTO LIBERIA (2 SHOTS) 0.51 9. CU/GV: UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) REFUGEE AGENCY BARGE, DESTROYED BY THE IVORY COAST ARMY LATE LAST YEAR, ON THE RIVER (2 SHOTS) 0.59 10. MV/GV: FRENCH LEGIONNAIRE LOOKS ACROSS THE RIVER TO THE LIBERIAN SIDE THROUGH BINOCULARS (2 SHOTS) 1.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th February 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DJITOU AND PROLLO VILLAGES, SOUTHWEST IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVA21Y8P91GWJUV4PEDN3NUSP1GF
- Story Text: Ivorian border guards patrol villages on the border
with Liberia in fear of threatened attacks from across the
border.
On Tuesday (January 21) Ivory Coast's army said it had
turned back an attack from across the Liberian border, a day
after Liberia said it had been attacked from Ivory Coast.
Villagers near Ivory Coast's frontier with Liberia have
created makeshift defence forces in the face of possible
cross-border attack.
Ivory Coast and Liberia this week accused each other of
launching raids into each other's territory, deepening the
seriousness of a four-month-old civil war in Ivory Coast that
has already left hundreds dead and displaced more than 600,000
people.
Village warriors in southwest Ivory Coast close to the
Cavally river border painted their faces white or charcoal as
a ritual sign of serious intent in the face of crisis.
"We are here. We are here to protect the village since we
are close to the border," said village warrior Simplice Kakao,
wearing charcoal on his face.
Two French soldiers were wounded Wednesday (January 22) in
another clash between the French army and rebels - who include
Liberian fighters - outside the town of Duekoue in western
Ivory Coast.
Earlier this month nine French soldiers were wounded and
30 rebels killed in the biggest engagement since the French
army committed itself to patrolling a fragile ceasefire line
in October last year.
A failed coup last September plunged Ivory Coast, formerly
one of Africa's most stable countries, into civil war. Since
then rebels have held the northern half of the country which
is mainly Muslim.
President Laurent Gbagbo's government is attending peace
talks in Paris at the invitation of the French government
along with representatives of the rebel factions and Ivory
Coast's main political parties. They hope to strike a deal to
settle the crisis by the end of this week.
Tensions between the north and south of Ivory Coast as
well as political grievances lie at the root of a conflict in
a country that has a high rate of regional immigration and
acts as an economic beacon in West Africa.
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has set up an operation to
take home thousands of Liberians resident in Ivory Coast, who
say they are being driven from their homes by angry Ivorians.
But the operation was hampered late last year when Ivorian
soldiers citing security reasons destroyed a barge on the
Cavally river they were using to transport the refugees.
jg/crb
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