Fri Mar 4, 2011
The European Union has strongly condemned Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo and his men for killing seven women in a peaceful demonstration calling for his ouster.
Forces loyal to Gbagbo opened fire with heavy machine guns on a peaceful demonstration by hundreds of women in Abobo, an impoverished suburb of Abidjan, urging Gbagbo to hand over presidency to the internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara with 54 percent of the vote.
However, Gbagbo has ignored calls from countries across the African continent and elsewhere around the globe to admit defeat and step down.
Men in uniform drove up and started shooting randomly. Six women died on the spot and a seventh died in hospital, a demonstrator told Reuters. Many others were also wounded.
EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on Thursday, after the killing, that Gbagbo will be “held accountable” for the massacre and reiterated that he should immediately hand over power to Ouattara.
Ashton also condemned the "deteriorating rule of law", citing the illegal nationalization of banks and arbitrary expropriations of money and property by Gbagbo.
She said EU sanctions against Gbagbo would remain in place “until he accepts the results of the election and hands over power to the legitimate president."
The UN said, just after the shooting, that more than 26 people were killed in the past 24 hours in Abobo, raising the death toll to 365 since the presidential standoff escalated in the West African country in mid-December.
Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168090.html.
An Open Letter to Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
9 years ago
I learned that Ouattara is corrupt as well, so I'm not siding with him. Laurent Gbagbo isn't any different from Ouattara either. Ivory Coast needs a real leader that has a clean sheet against corruption and won't attack innocent civilians. Sadly that might never happen, especially since the borders are from the African Colonial Era.
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