French helicopters have fired rockets on the residence of Laurent Gbagbo, taking active part in the civil war supporting Quattara
Haru Mutasa, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Abidjan, confirmed that five helicopters were used in the attack, and that they flew from a French airbase. After flying to the Cocody area, where the presidential palace is located, they fired their rockets and then returned to the airbase to reload. The process was then repeated.Two residents from nearby neighborhoods reported seeing two UN Mi-24 attack helicopters and a French helicopter open fire on the residence on Sunday, the Associated Press news agency reported.One resident reported seeing smoke rise from the compound. An AP reporter saw the same three helicopters take off from the French military base minutes before the reporter heard explosions coming from the direction of the residence.A UN spokesman told the Reuters news agency that the helicopters were attempting to "neutralise Gbagbo heavy weapons".
[.. Mosst people here are ignorant of situation of things in Cote D voire. the international community has no recognition for the sovereignty of African countries. Could you imagine Nigerian supreme court declaring Mr A winner in an election, and yet somebody in New York said he only recognised Mr. B. The body that declared Gbagbo winner is the highest ruling court in Cote D'voire, the equivalent of supreme court in Nigeria. Now the issue is not whether Quattara won or not, it is about respecting intitutions in the society, that is part of democracy, when US supreme court declared Bush winner in a world renown rigged election yet Agore did not take up arms nor did international community who are resident in New York complained. How come it was easy for them to disregard the highest court of Cote D'voire to proclaim Gbagbo the winner?
How many Governors do we have in Nigeria today who came to office by the instrumentality of the Court? Ameachi did not even contested at the polls, yet he came to office by technical instrument of law, what of how Uba was removed, what of Aregbesola in Osun, Adam Oshiomole among others. The question is why did Quattara not avail himself of civil means of seeking redress in court? Perhaps he would have done that if the so called International community did not over stepped their boundary and undermined institutional process of Cote D'voire by proclaiming Quattara winner, did Buhari not go to court against OBJ, even against Yar Adua? why can't this issue be resolved constitutionally, now that the rebels have brought in to power, they will soon tell him their terms which in no time will end the party, they will soon tell him he did not come to office on popular mandate, rather by the barrel of the guns, they will tell him how they help him rigged election up North, and with they same gun, he will be chased out of power..]
"We are pursuing our operation to neutralise Gbagbo heavy weapons. We had to stop the operation for a couple of days to evaluate and have realised that there are still some heavy weapons that they had used against civilians and the UN," Hamadoun Toure, the spokesman, said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Toure said that the UN was acting within the mandate of UN Resolution 1975, which allows the UN to take action if there was an "imminent threat" to civilians. He said that UN helicopters were only targetting heavy weapons sites, and were not looking to target Gbagbo himself.
"We are not trying to take control of his residence ... Our objective is not to capture anybody," Toure said.
Toure said that with the "use of heavy arms against the civilian population and peacekeepers" continuing, "there was a need to react to protect the civilian population in conformity with our mandate".
Al Jazeera's Mutasa said that heavy shelling and gunfire rang out through the evening on Sunday, with plumes of smoke visible from the direction of Gbagbo's residenc
[.. Mosst people here are ignorant of situation of things in Cote D voire. the international community has no recognition for the sovereignty of African countries. Could you imagine Nigerian supreme court declaring Mr A winner in an election, and yet somebody in New York said he only recognised Mr. B. The body that declared Gbagbo winner is the highest ruling court in Cote D'voire, the equivalent of supreme court in Nigeria. Now the issue is not whether Quattara won or not, it is about respecting intitutions in the society, that is part of democracy, when US supreme court declared Bush winner in a world renown rigged election yet Agore did not take up arms nor did international community who are resident in New York complained. How come it was easy for them to disregard the highest court of Cote D'voire to proclaim Gbagbo the winner?
How many Governors do we have in Nigeria today who came to office by the instrumentality of the Court? Ameachi did not even contested at the polls, yet he came to office by technical instrument of law, what of how Uba was removed, what of Aregbesola in Osun, Adam Oshiomole among others. The question is why did Quattara not avail himself of civil means of seeking redress in court? Perhaps he would have done that if the so called International community did not over stepped their boundary and undermined institutional process of Cote D'voire by proclaiming Quattara winner, did Buhari not go to court against OBJ, even against Yar Adua? why can't this issue be resolved constitutionally, now that the rebels have brought in to power, they will soon tell him their terms which in no time will end the party, they will soon tell him he did not come to office on popular mandate, rather by the barrel of the guns, they will tell him how they help him rigged election up North, and with they same gun, he will be chased out of power..]
"We are pursuing our operation to neutralise Gbagbo heavy weapons. We had to stop the operation for a couple of days to evaluate and have realised that there are still some heavy weapons that they had used against civilians and the UN," Hamadoun Toure, the spokesman, said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Toure said that the UN was acting within the mandate of UN Resolution 1975, which allows the UN to take action if there was an "imminent threat" to civilians. He said that UN helicopters were only targetting heavy weapons sites, and were not looking to target Gbagbo himself.
"We are not trying to take control of his residence ... Our objective is not to capture anybody," Toure said.
Toure said that with the "use of heavy arms against the civilian population and peacekeepers" continuing, "there was a need to react to protect the civilian population in conformity with our mandate".
Al Jazeera's Mutasa said that heavy shelling and gunfire rang out through the evening on Sunday, with plumes of smoke visible from the direction of Gbagbo's residenc
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