Gus, your friends have reared their heads again -- this time in Africa.
wpherald.com
>>New allegations that Israeli arms dealers helped the army of Ivory Coast attack a French military base look likely to reignite long-tense relations between Israel and France.
"Israeli mercenaries assisting the Ivory Coast army operated unmanned aircraft that aided the aerial bombing of a French base in the country on Nov.9," France's TF-1 television station reported Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, the respected Paris newspaper Le Monde reported that a group of 46 Israeli advisers were running an electronic-surveillance center for the Ivory Coast army, which has turned on French peacekeepers invited in by the government two years ago.
Israel Radio cited an Israeli defense source as denying the reports. The attacks on French bases cost the lives of at least nine French soldiers.
"Israel is unaware of such a thing," the Jerusalem Post quoted the Israeli Foreign Ministry saying.
Earlier, French troops at Abidjan airport in Ivory Coast, now Cote D'Ivoire, seized an Israeli-built drone, or unmanned-surveillance aircraft. In September, France called on Israel to clarify its role in Ivory Coast.
On Nov. 9, the Israeli Defense Ministry's Director General Amos Yaron promised to stop supplying military equipment to the army in the poor West African nation.
"The decision was made in the light of recent developments in this country and at the request of the French government," a Defense Ministry statement said. "It will remain in effect until the situation in that country becomes clear."
The allegations are political dynamite for many reasons. France was so incensed by the deadly Nov.9 air attack on its troops it responded with overwhelming force, wiping out the entire Ivory Coast air force. In retaliation, enraged mobs attacked French troops and citizens in the former French colony and France evacuated more than 5,000 Westerners in the country.
The U.N. Security Council Monday approved an arms embargo on Ivory Coast, a move that was a blow to President Laurent Gbagbo, who had pledged to rebuild the air force. On Wednesday, the African Union called for an urgent meeting of its Peace and Security Council to prevent Ivory Coast from collapsing into full-scale civil war like its West African neighbors, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The AU issued a statement that called for "the early convening" of the PSC "to review developments in Ivory Coast and agree on steps to be taken to contribute tot eh restoration of lasting peace and security."
France has significant economic interests in Ivory Coast as well long-time ties to the country, but in recent months its 2002 intervention there has become a hot potato and President Jacques Chirac might well want to divert popular attention from the casualties that French troops have suffered.<<
Expect a "terrorist" attack in France and a "bin Laden confession". |
