 |
|
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo
|
ABIDJAN,
September 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Upon the request of
U.S. Ambassador to Ivory coast, U.S. troops were preparing to leave for
the west African nation Tuesday, September 24, 2002, to rescue American
and European children trapped in a battle between the army and mutineers
as a French contingent moved closer to the fighting.
The
170 children - 160 from the United States, the others from Canada and
the Netherlands - were trapped in the International Christian Academy in
the central city of Bouake, machine-gun bullets were going just a few
meters (feet) over their heads, school officials told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"Lots
of the children are frightened," a school administrator, Michel
Cousineau, told AFP from the academy.
An
armored column of French troops, meanwhile, left Yamoussoukro in the
center of the country Tuesday to move closer to Bouake, 100 kilometers
(60 miles) to the north.
"We
are going to pre-position ourselves even closer to Bouake," their
commander Colonel Charles de Kersabiec told journalists.
"The
situation is becoming worse," he said.
De
Kersabiec earlier ruled out any immediate evacuation of the 1,000
foreigners in Bouake, who include 600 French nationals, saying that
"for the moment we are not at that point".
Officers
could later be seen pouring over a map of the city.
Cousineau
said three military trucks carrying 60 soldiers were outside the school.
"They are sweeping the area and firing shots from time to time.
Gunfire is going on in the distance, and it's heavy at times."
James
Forlines, director of a Baptist mission involved with the school told
AFP from Nashville, Tennessee that administrators said "machine-gun
bullets are going eight to 10 feet (about three meters) over our
heads".
The
fighting followed an uprising in Abidjan, the main city on the coast,
which left 270 dead and 300 wounded last Thursday, September 19,
according to a government tally.
Mutineers
also hold Korhogo, the biggest town in the mainly Muslim north.
About
200 U.S. special forces will go directly to Ivory Coast and military
personnel and aircraft are to be placed in neighboring Ghana if an
evacuation proves necessary, U.S. officials said.
"At
the request of the American Ambassador to the Ivory Coast, the European
Command intends to move forces there to ensure the safety of our
American citizens," said Lieutenant Commander Don Sewell, a U.S.
Navy spokesman.
"The
purpose is to go there and assist in moving American citizens from the
Christian Academy, where they are, to a safe location, still within
Ivory Coast."
He
insisted nevertheless that "this is not an evacuation."
However,
a senior State Department official said two small teams - one military
and one diplomatic - that specialists in emergency evacuations were
already in Ivory Coast and noted the preparations being made in Ghana.
"We
are pre-positioning people and aircraft in Ghana in case an evacuation
is necessary," the official told AFP.
French
troops set up camp at Yamoussoukro airport Monday, September 23, after
driving 350 kilometers (250 miles) overnight from Abidjan.
De
Kersabiec confirmed that French reinforcements were on their way from
Abidjan. The former colonial power maintains a 600-strong garrison
there, and has been flying in extra troops from France and nearby Gabon.
The
contingent already in place, equipped with armored vehicles and three
large Cougar helicopters, numbered about 250 men and women.
On
Tuesday, Ivory Coast government troops were ensconced in the eastern
suburbs of Bouake, shooting into the centre, military sources said.
The
newspaper of the ruling party, meanwhile, accused President Blaise
Compaore of neighboring Burkina Faso of masterminding the uprising.
"Ivory
Coast, our country, is at war against a regime, that of Blaise Compaore;
that's good to know," the daily Notre Voie declared Tuesday.
The
government earlier described the uprising as a bid to topple President
Laurent Gbagbo and blamed it on Ivory Coast's former military ruler,
General Robert Guei, who was among the hundreds killed in Abidjan
Thursday, adding that it was masterminded by an unspecified "rogue
state" in the region.
Burkinabes
make up the majority of a big immigrant population. More than a third of
the 16 million people in the world's largest cocoa-producing nation are
foreigners.
Ivory
Coast won independence from France in 1960 and was seen as a model of
stability and peace until Guei seized power in 1999 in the country's
first ever coup.
A
summit of African heads of state is due to be held Thursday in Morocco
on ways to resolve the crisis, but a spokesman for Gbagbo said it was
unsure whether the Ivorian leader would attend the meeting.
Spokesman
Toussaint Alain told AFP that Ivory Coast was "undecided about its
participation" in the summit, but added that "all ways which
could solve this crisis should be explored".
Compaore
is set to attend the summit, as is Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin of France.
In
Copenhagen, the European Union expressed support for Gbagbo's
"legitimate government" and called for a "political
solution including all the parties involved".
Guinea,
Ivory Coast's neighbor to the northwest, meanwhile, became the latest
country to close its border with the embattled country, following Mali
and Burkina Faso.
