From The Daily Telegraph:
Chirac rushes in...
"What does President Jacques Chirac think he is doing in Ivory Coast? Last week, government forces broke an 18-month ceasefire with rebels in the north of the country, and on Saturday killed nine French peacekeepers in an air raid on the rebel stronghold of Bouaké. Mr Chirac responded by ordering the destruction of most of the (tiny) Ivorian air force. That has provoked protests and looting in the commercial capital, Abidjan, leading the Elysée to raise its forces in Ivory Coast to 5,000 in order to protect the 14,000 French nationals living there. The parliamentary speaker, Mamadou Koulibaly, has accused the former colonial power of occupying his country and warned of a war "worse than Vietnam". That is the language of a demagogue. Nevertheless, Mr Chirac's impetuosity has embroiled France in a confrontation from which there is no easy exit."
I guess we missed Monsieur Chirac's appeal to the UN Security Council for permission prior to France's unilateral invasion of Cote d'Ivoire.
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