Yet another reason why the simplistic good guy-bad guy narrative does not work in a conflict situation such as Ivory Coast. Why is there such an asymmetry in the media coverage of atrocities committed by Ouattara's forces vis-a-vis those committed by Gbagbo's? Does being the favored party in the international community inoculate Ouattara from blame when his forces commit genocidal crimes and rape and violate the dignity of Gbagbo's supporters and ethnic kinswomen? More relevant to this list, since Abdul has subjected us in the last few months to hysterical descriptions such as "Gbagbo the pervert," "Gbagbo the murderer," "Gbagbo the genocidal war criminal," etc, can we now describe Ouattara in those terms, seeing that the atrocities committed by his forces have eclipsed those of Gbagbo's in intensity, speed, and brazenness?
Ivory Coast report: Ouattara forces commit abuses
AP – Local residents, who say they have been without running water for two weeks, carry jerrycans of water … 
DUEKOUE, Ivory Coast – Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's democratically elected president killed hundreds of civilians, raped his rival's supporters and burned villages during an offensive launched in the country's west, a human rights group said.
Human Rights Watch, in a report obtained by The Associated Press late Saturday, called on Alassane Ouattara to investigate and prosecute abuses by his forces and those supporting his rival, strongman Laurent Gbagbo.
The group also said that forces loyal to Gbagbo killed more than 100 civilians to retaliate against pro-Ouattara fighters who launched a major offensive advancing toward Abidjan.
Gbagbo is holed up in a bunker in his residence in Abidjan. After a decade in power, he still refuses to step aside even though the United Nations has ruled that he lost the November presidential election to Ouattara.
After four months of diplomacy, Ouattara gave the go-ahead for a military intervention led by fighters from a former rebel group. They swept across the country, advancing hundreds of miles (kilometers) and taking dozens of cities in a matter of days before being held up at the door of Abidjan, Ivory Coast's biggest and most strategically important city.
"While the international community has been focused on the political stalemate in Abidjan over the presidency, forces on both sides have committed numerous atrocities against civilians, their leaders showing little interest in reining them in," said Daniel Bekele, Human Rights Watch Africa director.
People interviewed by the group described how pro-Ouattara forces "summarily executed and raped perceived Gbagbo supporters in their homes, as they worked in the fields, as they fled, or as they tried to hide in the bush."
The report said that many of the abuses occurred from March 6-30, as villages in the west including Toulepleu, Doke, Blolequin, Duekoue and Guiglo fell to pro-Ouattara forces.
The U.N. said peacekeepers and human rights officials discovered about 60 bodies in the western town of Guiglo. The U.N. human rights agency said another 40 corpses were found lying the street in Blolequin, and many of them had been shot. Fifteen other bodies were found in Duekoue, where violence already has left at least 229 dead in recent weeks.
The rebels were going from house to house, ordering people to come out and breaking down doors in Duekoue's Carrefour neighborhood, a stronghold of the militia.
The report said that many were targeted for their ethnicity and Ouattara's Republican forces have killed, raped, and pillaged the predominantly Guere population, who largely supported Gbagbo in the election. Abuses continued through March, culminating in the massacre of hundreds in Douekoue on March 29, the report said.
On March 27, heavy gunfire erupted around Duekoue, set in the middle of lush tropical forest in the southwest corner of Ivory Coast, as the rebels advanced.
"They came into our neighborhood on the Monday. That day they were only searching out and killing young men and boys — with guns," Philomene Houe, a 39-year-old soap maker told AP.
"It wasn't until the Tuesday that they started killing anyone — mothers with children. My neighbor on one side, a young woman, was shot along with her 6-month-old baby. My other neighbor, an old man who must be 70 years old, they also shot him."
On Sunday, rebels at roadblocks in Carrefour were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, AK-47's, shotguns, hunting rifles and knives. They stood across from homes charred shells of homes.
Thousands of people gathered at the Roman Catholic Mission of St. Theresa of the Baby Jesus, which has become a refuge for 30,000 people. Rice was being distributed and Medecins Sans Frontieres had set up a clinic.
Ouattara had long tried to distance himself from the northern-based fighters taking up his cause who fought in a brief civil war almost a decade ago that left the country split in two. Those fighters were accused of many atrocities at the time. But he appeared to change tack as the rebel fighters, which he renamed the "Republican Forces," began their lightning assault on Abidjan.
In recent weeks, a pro-Gbagbo militia had also been targeting Ouattara supporters, refugees told the AP.
On March 28, pro-Gbagbo forces massacred more than 100 people in Blolequin, and killed 10 more northerners and West African immigrants in the town of Guiglo, the group said.
"To understand the tragic events in Ivory Coast, a line cannot be drawn between north and south, or supporters of Gbagbo and Ouattara," Bekele said. "Unfortunately, there are those on both sides who have shown little regard for the dignity of human life."
In the report, Human Rights Watch called on Ouattara to "take decisive measures to address serious violations of international law by all forces, prevent further reprisals and acts of collective punishment, and urgently investigate and prosecute all those responsible for abuses."
More than a million people have fled their homes since the November elections, with some 130,000 cross the border to Liberia.
On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:
I believe Gbagbo is trying to terrorize and intimidate so that he would get a Kenyan type
concession. That of course would be a very bad precedent for other countries.
The Kenyan concession was a mistake and this error should not be repeated.
You may recall that the true winner of the presidential election in Kenya was forced to make a deal with the loser, after rounds of violence and terror.
Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
www.africahistory.net<http://www.africahistory.net/>
www.esnips.com/web/GloriaEmeagwali<http://www.esnips.com/web/GloriaEmeagwali
>
________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abdul Bangura [theai@earthlink.net]
Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 5:46 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: leonenet
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Cote d'voire Follow-up - 9 April 2010
[cid:410-22011469214611721@13071999]<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/>
Mwalimu Karmoh John Simbo, Gbagbo should be denied martyrdom. His actions is to provoke his elimination, instead of facing a court of law.
What might Gbagbo be playing at? Does he perhaps have a death wish?
John
Africa[cid:184671-22011469214611722@13071999]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13026923
9 April 2011 Last updated at 20:10 GMT
Ivory Coast: Gbagbo troops 'hit' Ouattara hotel HQ
Alassane Ouattara has set up his supporters and troops at the Golf Hotel* Why Gbagbo is clinging on<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13014410>
Ivory Coast crisis
* Did UN overstep its mandate?<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13004462>
* Ouattara's political tightrope<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12981300>
* Q&A: Ivory Coast crisis<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11916590>
[cid:63342-22011469214611723@13071999]
A hotel used by the internationally recognised president of Ivory Coast has come under attack by forces loyal to his rival Laurent Gbagbo, reports say.
Witnesses and a UN official told news agencies that the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city, had come under mortar and small-arms fire.
Alassane Outtara was judged to have won a presidential election in Ivory Coast, but Mr Gbagbo has refused to step down.
He has been surrounded in his residence for days by pro-Ouattara troops.
Reports suggested Saturday's fighting flared at around 1700 GMT.
"The FDS [pro-Gbagbo Defence and Security Forces] are attacking us and we are trying to push them back," one fighter with the pro-Ouattara forces told the AFP news agency.
"The firing is very very close. Snipers fired bursts from Kalashnikovs. The pro-Gbagbos are attacking us on all fronts," a hotel resident added.
AFP also reported that UN peacekeepers - tasked by the Security Council with protecting civilians in Ivory Coast - had fired back.
"The Golf Hotel was attacked with mortars," UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said, adding that the attack had come from south of Abidjan's lagoon, away from the presidential residence.
"In conformity with our mandate to protect the Golf Hotel where President Ouattara and his team are, the peacekeepers responded by targeting the origin of the firing coming from the other side of the lagoon. We intentionally avoided the residence of President Gbagbo."
Heavy weapons
Mr Ouattara's forces have swept down from the north of Ivory Coast over the past two weeks but much of Abidjan is dominated by Gbagbo supporters. Days of fighting have plunged the city into crisis.
The BBC's Mark Doyle, in Abidjan, says an estimated one million people have been made homeless by the recent fighting, and there are growing concerns for public health.
It had appeared several days ago that Mr Gbagbo was on the verge of defeat but the upscale Plateau and Cocody areas of Abidjan are now fully in the control of his forces.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said late on Friday that Mr Gbagbo's followers had in fact made strong gains, having used a pause for negotiations as an opportunity to regroup.
Earlier this week Mr Ouattara's troops were reported to have isolated Mr Gbagbo in an underground bunker, but a pause in the fighting appears to have given his forces new resolve.
"They clearly used the lull of Tuesday as a trick to reinforce their position," Mr Le Roy said, referring to a dip in the fighting after three of Mr Gbagbo's generals requested talks.
Mr Le Roy said that there was evidence that his forces were still using weapons including tanks, M-21 rocket launchers, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and armoured personnel carriers.
Heavy weapons fire from Mr Gbagbo's forces targeted the French ambassador's residence in the city on Friday, the French embassy said, although this was denied by Mr Gbagbo's supporters.
On Saturday the remaining British presence in Abidjan left the city. A skeleton staff of two diplomats and 16 local staff were evacuated in a convoy of UN armoured vehicles.
The decision to evacuate was taken after bullets started coming in through the window and mortars landed in the garden, our correspondent says.
The UN has certified Mr Ouattara as the winner of November's run-off vote for president but Mr Gbagbo has refused to cede power.
--
There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
---Mohandas Gandhi
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