Talk did not prompt election loser Laurent Gbagbo to give up power, but a military push is about to reach the capital of Abidjan spearheaded by troops loyal to the internationally recognized winner, President Alassane Ouattara. Some high profile officials of Gbagbo’s government are defecting and others seeking asylum in foreign embassies, (such as the Gbagbo army chief). Does this mean the end of the conflict that has created hundreds of thousands of refugees, reignited fears of ethnic cleansing and sectarian violence and claimed hundreds of lives including an especially brutal shooting of peaceful women protesters by Gbagbo military? See Film Report: (“Killings/Sanctions-UN Security Council”)- diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/killingssanctions-ivory-coast-un-security-council/25918

Ivory Coast Resolution 1975 – Also “all necessary measures”
The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1975 – which imposed targeted sanctions upon Gbagbo and narrow group of supporters. Did this bring about the collapse of Gbagbo forces or was it more purely a military matter?
Recall that Resolution 1975 refers to language very similar to the Libya Resolution 1973 (by which NATO and the coalition are now effectively waging war against Colonel Gaddafi and forces) including the key “all necessary means” to protect civilians.

6. Recalls its authorization and stresses its full support given to the UNOCI,
while impartially implementing its mandate, to use all necessary means to carry out its
mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within its
capabilities and its areas of deployment, including to prevent the use of heavy
weapons against the civilian population and requests the Secretary-General to keep
it urgently informed of measures taken and efforts made in this regard;


Is France Playing More Direct Role?
The following paragraph also demands full cooperation with not only UN mission/forces in Ivory Coast – “UNOCI” – but also the French military deployed there. Although I have no evidence of this, is it possible that French troops in Ivory Coast have in some way paved the way for Ouattara’s forces to make such a dramatic turn in putting the Gbagbo forces on the run?

7. Calls upon all parties to cooperate fully in the operation of UNOCI and
French forces which support it, in particular by guaranteeing their safety, security
and freedom of movement with unhindered and immediate access throughout the
territory of Cote d'Ivoire, to enable them to fully carry out their mandate,

Gbagbo & Ble Goude = Milosevic, Mladic, Karadzic & Arkan
I have no quarrel with any of this if it helps bring about the hateful rhetoric that Gbagbo has been employing and his more than casual dalliance with the methodology of ethnic cleansing/genocide. Gbagbo and his allies deserve all that befalls them after the most ruthless and self focused effort to cling to power and once again bring the country to civil war, particularly along ethnic/religious lines. Having witnessed such methods and means in Bosnia & Herzegovina, I put Gbagbo into the category as Slobodan Milosevic, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

Why Not Referred to the International Criminal Court?
Which brings me to the next question: will the International Criminal Court investigate and potentially pursue indictments? There seems to be ample evidence. Why did not Security Council refer the matter been to the International Criminal Court, as was the case under Resolution 1973 for Libya? The Council did request that all cooperate with the commission of inquiry deployed only days earlier by the Human Rights Council and requests for the Secretary General to transmit such commission report when completed. Nonetheless, when referring Libya/Gaddafi to the ICC, the UN Security Council did not delay until the Human Rights Council completed its inquiry.
8. Calls upon all parties to fully cooperate with the independent international
commission of inquiry put in place by the Human Rights Council on 25 March 2011
to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations of serious
abuses and violations of human rights committed in Côte d’Ivoire following the
presidential elections of 28 November 2010, and requests the Secretary-General to
transmit this report to the Security Council and other relevant international bodies;


“Young Patriots” and Other Militias
This brings us back to the fundamental question – will the current military offensive end the conflict. From this significant distance, it is difficult to have confidence. The Gbagbo paramilitary “Young Patriots” led by Charles Ble Goude (an Ivory Coast version of Serbian thug Arakan who deserves ICC indictment due to both incitement and actions) are not likely to quit and probably will now see themselves as directly at risk if conflict ends.

Furthermore, there are potentially two other militia which Gbagbo has recently employed, as outlined in the below article from OperationBrokenSilence.org titled “Time Up for Diplomacy in Ivory Coast” (12-1-2011) by Mark Hackett:
Two main groups are involved. One comprises former members of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, known as MODEL, a rebel group once based in Côte d’Ivoire and created by Mr Gbagbo. Back in the 1990s, he opposed the forces of Liberia’s bloodthirsty president, Charles Taylor, who is now facing trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity committed by his forces during a civil war in next-door Sierra Leone. With a strong presence in and around Toe Town, MODEL’s fighters hail from Mr Gbagbo’s Krahn tribe.
The second Liberian group that has popped up again, previously known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, was once sponsored by Mr Taylor, who backed Côte d’Ivoire’s northern rebels in their vain effort to oust Mr Gbagbo during the Ivorian civil war in 2002. Abandoned at the end of that conflict, this group’s militia has swapped sides to fight for Mr Gbagbo.

Ending Cycle of Incitement & Efforts at to Spark Ethnic Conflict?
Unfortunately it may be too late to bring this latest manifestation of the Ivory Coast conflict to a quick and clean resolution. Gbagbo had too much opportunity to re-fertilize the memories and animosities of a civil war not even a generation past and instigate some new crimes for good measure. Nonetheless, it would be good for Ivory Coast to shake-off the narcissism politics of Gbagbo. It also would be very positive to bring about the full weight of international criminal law upon those as Gbagbo and Ble Goude to fully expose and deter future would-be exploiters of ethnic cleansing as a political tool. To rejuvenate an old theorem from the days when the “Yugoslav Tribunal” was being debated – justice is not only about bringing the guilty to account but also to bring to light all the innocent. By bringing the guilty to justice it also exonerates all others perhaps in whose name crimes were committed and who might become the victims of revenge. The cycle of ethnic conflict in the Ivory Coast must be broken and the rule of law applied by the International Criminal Court may be the best hope.

By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey
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More Reports at diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_posts
Including - The UN Security Council to address Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) as country swerves toward full conflict – Ambassador mo - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/the-un-security-council-to-address-ivory-coast-cote-divoire-as-country-swerves-toward-full-conflict-ambassador-mo/26480