Hola Linda ! how are you doing? what's about your work and your stay there ?
As I promised, I am sending you an email with all the details of what happened here, I wanted to do it firstly because you study international relations, so I thought it might be useful to you, who knows? Also because I really wanted as many people as possible know the truth, so in addition to the events which I myself was a witness, I conducted investigations, I wanted to understand why...
So I have taken risks, I met the rebels, I've been in dangerous places, I have visited places of battle, I spoke with some of the regular army, in short, I met many people. I started climbing back on everything that happened in Cote d'Ivoire since the coup of 1999 until the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo. I was surprised by what I learned and discovered with supporting evidence. Finally, I decided to stop because the answers surprised me and I was becoming increasingly rebellious. Can you imagine for example that Gbagbo has never won an election in Ivory Coast or that the weapons he bought could serve for three months of fighting non-stop? It is true that Alassane is a pawn of France but do you know how Gbagbo is controlled by his collaborators? He wanted to leave but they had convinced him not to leave peacefully the government and keep fighting against the entire world? Do you realize the murders, crimes and atrocities that have been made by both sides because of politics? I finally realized that the political world today is ironically the idea that a just cause enjoys wide support, while an unjust cause has only weak support. The trouble is that behind the "just cause" hides the most heinous injustices. I did not want to feel so bad and so disgusted. So I said the solution was to see the problem from another angle. Thus I realized that the first responsibles for what happens to us was the Ivoirians themselves.
I saw some Ivorians who have been distributing weapons (ONUCI on one hand and Gbagbo on the other) steal, loot and attack the innocent people instead of fighting for their causes (Whether they are pro-Ouattara or pro-Gbagbo). Maybe the loot was better than killing each other but still!
The French army was protected from looting on in general). I biked and I saw them around the city, come and go without reacting when they were present in Ivory Coast for supposedly protect civilians and properties. When this argument was no longer sufficient and that the legal army had the upper hand over the rebels, there was talk of destroying heavy weapons of Gbagbo camp, as if the heavy weapons of the rebels were programmed not to destroy or kill anyone whatsoever. I saw five soldiers defending the camp commando of Koumassi overnight against repeated assaults of young pro-Ouattara who ONUCI had distributed weapons to. I saw the neighborhood youngs (including my best friend Boris) feeding the soldiers with their food, women praying for them every night. I saw 3 tanks of the French army attacked the same camp in order to open a door for the rebels; it took the neighborhood young to go in front of their tanks so that they return to the 43rd BIMA.
On the night of 10 to 11 April 2011, I attended from the roof of my building and equipped with binoculars to repeated firing of French helicopters on the presidential palace, which is the guarantee of the sovereignty of a country and the residence of the president (or ex-president) of our country (although we are not in war against France). My grandmother was traumatized by the noise made by the guns, we had to make her out to the village for her to change a few ideas. In the district of Yopougon, the French helicopter went up to shot civilian’s houses. I say this because the cousin of Jean Luc (LCP AIESEC INSTEC) was shot in the head during the raid on Yopougon that is a pro-Gbagbo neighborhood and that includes most of the young patriots. You may be surprised by my thinking but the intervention of France was beneficial even though I am totally against the policy of France in Africa. At the point the situation was here, hundred times more people would have been killed without France intervention.
The next day I saw France denying to the rest of the the world any involvement in the arrest of President Laurent Gbagbo. Then as a first initiative, they said on France 24 that Paris sent an aid of 400 million euro for the reconstruction of the country, not only it was a loan payable over 9 years but also interests will be calculated over 12 years, too grateful from the Elysee! As the first ship, they brought a gas ship when what was missed the most was food to supply the supermarkets and shops looted and not gas or gasoline. After they’ll say they are not interrested in our oil, they’ll say that democracy was their purpose here. But hey, people must be rewarding when others are flying to their rescue, right?
As if this were not enough, I saw them telling to the rest of the world that everything okay after they installed Alassane Ouattara while rebels were settling scores in a cycle of hatred and violence that I wonder will end when? Students were killed, over 100 young people have been burned alive and then dead riddled with bullets only in the district of Koumassi/SICOGI and if Boris and his brother had not found refuge at my house, I would not have seen them again. I went with my bike and I saw burned bodies, they went up to desecrate the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Koumassi, ostensibly looking for weapons, they have shooted on the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament. The house of Pierre (VP ER AIESEC INSTEC) was riddled with bullets, they kidnapped his brother (Today I am happy to have helped him leave for Togo, I hope that will change his ideas a bit ...)
Campuses have been looted and burned, students had to flee and I say this because I attended the crossfire between rebels and pro-Gbagbo students, the rebels had mortars and rocket launchers (I assume that this are heavy weapons that have escaped form the too highly vigilant control of the French army, no?). University City of Port Bouet has been burned in front of me as if the new president was going to grow new campuses with the help of Sarkozy. No French television channel has mentionned about it, they did not had the courage to show the model of democracy that they’ve installed.
That day, Boris and I narrowly escaped the rebels, they stopped our vehicle and asked for our identity papers and then they asked if we were students, so we said yes because it was written on our identity papers. We should have lied because they did not even know how to read, they asked us to leave the vehicle and asked the driver to go away. Boris and I began by telling them that we were certainly students, but we were not pro-Gbagbo armed militants. They wanted to know nothing, they told us they would take us and kill us (we was in the street and those ones actually wanted to be a little more discreet). It took the intervention of the driver who said that we were innocent and that he would not go without us, for the rebels to decide to let us go, the rest of the people in the vehicle were just stuck there, they did nothing and they said nothing, they knew we were not armed or whatever. Today I go out with my passport I avoid saying that I am a student, I am suggesting that I work. The last time a group of rebels have stopped me and Sidney, they asked us money but we managed to get home unscathed. Regarding the investigation I made and the evidences I got, the situation is the opposite in Yopougon. There, the pro-Gbagbo commit the worst abuses, I told you what I saw so I can not give you details of what is happening in Yopougon except what I have been told and that I checked.
So I have taken risks, I met the rebels, I've been in dangerous places, I have visited places of battle, I spoke with some of the regular army, in short, I met many people. I started climbing back on everything that happened in Cote d'Ivoire since the coup of 1999 until the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo. I was surprised by what I learned and discovered with supporting evidence. Finally, I decided to stop because the answers surprised me and I was becoming increasingly rebellious. Can you imagine for example that Gbagbo has never won an election in Ivory Coast or that the weapons he bought could serve for three months of fighting non-stop? It is true that Alassane is a pawn of France but do you know how Gbagbo is controlled by his collaborators? He wanted to leave but they had convinced him not to leave peacefully the government and keep fighting against the entire world? Do you realize the murders, crimes and atrocities that have been made by both sides because of politics? I finally realized that the political world today is ironically the idea that a just cause enjoys wide support, while an unjust cause has only weak support. The trouble is that behind the "just cause" hides the most heinous injustices. I did not want to feel so bad and so disgusted. So I said the solution was to see the problem from another angle. Thus I realized that the first responsibles for what happens to us was the Ivoirians themselves.
I saw some Ivorians who have been distributing weapons (ONUCI on one hand and Gbagbo on the other) steal, loot and attack the innocent people instead of fighting for their causes (Whether they are pro-Ouattara or pro-Gbagbo). Maybe the loot was better than killing each other but still!
The French army was protected from looting on in general). I biked and I saw them around the city, come and go without reacting when they were present in Ivory Coast for supposedly protect civilians and properties. When this argument was no longer sufficient and that the legal army had the upper hand over the rebels, there was talk of destroying heavy weapons of Gbagbo camp, as if the heavy weapons of the rebels were programmed not to destroy or kill anyone whatsoever. I saw five soldiers defending the camp commando of Koumassi overnight against repeated assaults of young pro-Ouattara who ONUCI had distributed weapons to. I saw the neighborhood youngs (including my best friend Boris) feeding the soldiers with their food, women praying for them every night. I saw 3 tanks of the French army attacked the same camp in order to open a door for the rebels; it took the neighborhood young to go in front of their tanks so that they return to the 43rd BIMA.
On the night of 10 to 11 April 2011, I attended from the roof of my building and equipped with binoculars to repeated firing of French helicopters on the presidential palace, which is the guarantee of the sovereignty of a country and the residence of the president (or ex-president) of our country (although we are not in war against France). My grandmother was traumatized by the noise made by the guns, we had to make her out to the village for her to change a few ideas. In the district of Yopougon, the French helicopter went up to shot civilian’s houses. I say this because the cousin of Jean Luc (LCP AIESEC INSTEC) was shot in the head during the raid on Yopougon that is a pro-Gbagbo neighborhood and that includes most of the young patriots. You may be surprised by my thinking but the intervention of France was beneficial even though I am totally against the policy of France in Africa. At the point the situation was here, hundred times more people would have been killed without France intervention.
The next day I saw France denying to the rest of the the world any involvement in the arrest of President Laurent Gbagbo. Then as a first initiative, they said on France 24 that Paris sent an aid of 400 million euro for the reconstruction of the country, not only it was a loan payable over 9 years but also interests will be calculated over 12 years, too grateful from the Elysee! As the first ship, they brought a gas ship when what was missed the most was food to supply the supermarkets and shops looted and not gas or gasoline. After they’ll say they are not interrested in our oil, they’ll say that democracy was their purpose here. But hey, people must be rewarding when others are flying to their rescue, right?
As if this were not enough, I saw them telling to the rest of the world that everything okay after they installed Alassane Ouattara while rebels were settling scores in a cycle of hatred and violence that I wonder will end when? Students were killed, over 100 young people have been burned alive and then dead riddled with bullets only in the district of Koumassi/SICOGI and if Boris and his brother had not found refuge at my house, I would not have seen them again. I went with my bike and I saw burned bodies, they went up to desecrate the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Koumassi, ostensibly looking for weapons, they have shooted on the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament. The house of Pierre (VP ER AIESEC INSTEC) was riddled with bullets, they kidnapped his brother (Today I am happy to have helped him leave for Togo, I hope that will change his ideas a bit ...)
Campuses have been looted and burned, students had to flee and I say this because I attended the crossfire between rebels and pro-Gbagbo students, the rebels had mortars and rocket launchers (I assume that this are heavy weapons that have escaped form the too highly vigilant control of the French army, no?). University City of Port Bouet has been burned in front of me as if the new president was going to grow new campuses with the help of Sarkozy. No French television channel has mentionned about it, they did not had the courage to show the model of democracy that they’ve installed.
That day, Boris and I narrowly escaped the rebels, they stopped our vehicle and asked for our identity papers and then they asked if we were students, so we said yes because it was written on our identity papers. We should have lied because they did not even know how to read, they asked us to leave the vehicle and asked the driver to go away. Boris and I began by telling them that we were certainly students, but we were not pro-Gbagbo armed militants. They wanted to know nothing, they told us they would take us and kill us (we was in the street and those ones actually wanted to be a little more discreet). It took the intervention of the driver who said that we were innocent and that he would not go without us, for the rebels to decide to let us go, the rest of the people in the vehicle were just stuck there, they did nothing and they said nothing, they knew we were not armed or whatever. Today I go out with my passport I avoid saying that I am a student, I am suggesting that I work. The last time a group of rebels have stopped me and Sidney, they asked us money but we managed to get home unscathed. Regarding the investigation I made and the evidences I got, the situation is the opposite in Yopougon. There, the pro-Gbagbo commit the worst abuses, I told you what I saw so I can not give you details of what is happening in Yopougon except what I have been told and that I checked.
Honestly the rebels did not at all give a good example (although people should have not expect that just after the arrestation of Gbagbo and even if that's understandable, I was personnaly expected a positive attitude from them just for the population to stop the violence cycle), they committed all sorts of persecutions and it seemed that nobody can say anything. The new president does not control the rebels, France should at least have the audacity to assume its actions until the end and this should also serve as a lesson for us Ivorians since we necessary need so much others to deal out our problems. At least it will be understood by all of us that this creates very serious collateral damage.
For my part I do not really take France for responsible because I finally realized how lucky this country has had to have presidents like Chirac, Sarkozy and others ... Seriously, I think he should win re-election in 2012 (unfotunatly for Africa).
I realized that basically everything we accuses Sarkozy is to ensure the well being of its citizens by any means possible (to the detriment of the ressources of African countries), so that's what any good President should do (think about the future of his people). It may not be moral from him, but at least he does care about his citizens (not like many African presidents).
Frankly, I find that the conduct of France and the "international community" is unfair, but I think they are not the real guilty party. This crisis has shown me personally that Ivoirian in general is not determined, he prefers the easiness, he takes things for granted and likes to ignore the truth because it's simpler. Maybe we thought it was just a story between Gbagbo and Alassane ...
Laurent Gbagbo was not perfect (and I defy anyone to show me a perfect President) but France is not either and it has no monopoly of democracy and good governance, That is why I think that only the Ivorians had, have and will always have the right to choose, remove or expel their president (in this case Gbagbo for what we experienced on the night of April 10 to 11).
I have therefore come to the conclusion that France will do in Cote d'Ivoire what Ivorians will allow it to do. So instead of hating the French soldiers or to have terrorists ideas (like Gbagbo wanted many ivoirians to be), I made a firm decision to surrender my fight differently. I refuse to hate anyone, refuse to be afraid to tell the truth or to say what I think, I refuse to accept injustice and turn a blind eye just to live quietly and do not have a problem, I refuse to give up and leave such heritage to the future generation.
Every day that heaven will allow me to live, I'd do everything in my power to make the most persons understand the real fight, that we need to be working (because only work pays off!), in order to protect what we have, our heritage and that legacy our ancestors have left us, be proud of what we are. We need as many people become aware ... (Although with some people this is already lost.)
I'm sorry I spilled on you like that but I needed to talk to someone and friends are suppose to listen each other. Thank you again for your call and I hope you are doing well. Take care and gimme you news... I am starving of you, when are you coming back?
For my part I do not really take France for responsible because I finally realized how lucky this country has had to have presidents like Chirac, Sarkozy and others ... Seriously, I think he should win re-election in 2012 (unfotunatly for Africa).
I realized that basically everything we accuses Sarkozy is to ensure the well being of its citizens by any means possible (to the detriment of the ressources of African countries), so that's what any good President should do (think about the future of his people). It may not be moral from him, but at least he does care about his citizens (not like many African presidents).
Frankly, I find that the conduct of France and the "international community" is unfair, but I think they are not the real guilty party. This crisis has shown me personally that Ivoirian in general is not determined, he prefers the easiness, he takes things for granted and likes to ignore the truth because it's simpler. Maybe we thought it was just a story between Gbagbo and Alassane ...
Laurent Gbagbo was not perfect (and I defy anyone to show me a perfect President) but France is not either and it has no monopoly of democracy and good governance, That is why I think that only the Ivorians had, have and will always have the right to choose, remove or expel their president (in this case Gbagbo for what we experienced on the night of April 10 to 11).
I have therefore come to the conclusion that France will do in Cote d'Ivoire what Ivorians will allow it to do. So instead of hating the French soldiers or to have terrorists ideas (like Gbagbo wanted many ivoirians to be), I made a firm decision to surrender my fight differently. I refuse to hate anyone, refuse to be afraid to tell the truth or to say what I think, I refuse to accept injustice and turn a blind eye just to live quietly and do not have a problem, I refuse to give up and leave such heritage to the future generation.
Every day that heaven will allow me to live, I'd do everything in my power to make the most persons understand the real fight, that we need to be working (because only work pays off!), in order to protect what we have, our heritage and that legacy our ancestors have left us, be proud of what we are. We need as many people become aware ... (Although with some people this is already lost.)
I'm sorry I spilled on you like that but I needed to talk to someone and friends are suppose to listen each other. Thank you again for your call and I hope you are doing well. Take care and gimme you news... I am starving of you, when are you coming back?
From Africa With all my Friendship
Willy
Willy
