A French diplomatic vehicle comes under attack in Abidjan

Photo: OlivierCIV

As armed forces loyal to Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Ouattara close in on Abidjan, the economic capital, supporters of outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo are growing increasingly aggressive, in particular against French expatriates. A photo sent by one of our Observers shows a French diplomatic vehicle being attacked by an angry mob in the district of Cocody.

The Ivory Coast has been locked in a tense political crisis since a disputed presidential election on November 28, after which both Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara declared themselves president. Ouattara gained widespread international recognition after the Independent Electoral Commission declared him the rightful winner with over 54 percent of the votes.

A French person stopped at a “checkpoint” in Abidjan

Another of our Observers, a French person who has been living in Abidjan for years, sent us this photo he took on Wednesday, March 30 as he was stopped at an impromptu checkpoint set up by masked Gbagbo supporters.

Photo taken bu an Observer who asked to remain anonymous.

“French people shouldn’t go out at night. Even during the day, there are certain neighbourhoods they have to avoid”

Olivier CIV lives in Cocody. He prefers to remain anonymous.

 

The incident occurred at around 4 pm (local time) on March 29 at a crossroads in Cocody, a residential area in Abidjan where the French embassy is located. A vehicle of the French armed force’s peacekeeping operation in the Ivory Coast, known as Operation Unicorn, had just driven by. Youth from the neighbouring university campus were angry against policemen stationed at the crossroads because they had let the vehicle go past. [Charles Blé Goudé, the leader of the “Young Patriot”, a pro-Gbagbo youth movement, had called on his supporters earlier to block the circulation of UN and Operation Unicorn vehicles. Gbagbo supporters have accused the UN of having a pro-Ouattara bias.]

As a result, a group of youths decided to take over the crossroads. That’s when the French diplomatic vehicle arrived. You could tell it was a diplomatic vehicle because of its orange licence plate, and that it was French because the licence number started with 101.

Photo : OlivierCIV.

The young men got very worked up, they tried to block the car and started beating it with sticks [you can see on the photos that one of the car’s front window has been smashed in]. The diver had the right reflex: he slammed his foot on the accelerator and drove away. If he hadn’t, they would have made him get out of the car and burned it.

Gbagbo’s supporters are very angry with Nicolas Sarkozy. Right now French people shouldn’t go out at night in Abidjan. Even during the day, they should avoid certain pro-Gbagbo areas, like Yopougon. And even then they aren’t completely safe: Cocody used to be a very calm area, and the kind of scene like the one I witnessed was very rare.”