The driver of the vehicle, caporal Vyakhirev, was quickly evacuated to Yamoussoucro, and then on to Paris.
-
-
As could be seen fron the damage to the stearing weel, both his arms were wounded, and the left fore arm had to be amputated. caporal Vyakhirev was also slightly wounded in the thighs. His chest was for the most part protected by his flack jacket.Comment
-
A couple of months latter, Vyakhirev was given the Medaille Militaire by president Chirac.Comment
-
This is the "administrative capital" of Ivory Coast: Yamoussoucro.
It is more or less a village in the middle of nowwhere; but it is also the hometown of the president, so he decided to make it the capital...Comment
-
As can be seen, Yamoussoukro, is "dominated" by the "Basilica of our Lady of peace of Yamoussoukro".
It is supposedly the biggest basilica in the world. I was told when I visited it that it is one centimeter highter then St Peters Basilica in Rome!
Here is what Wikipedia says about the basilica:
"The basilica was met with some controversy globally when construction began. The lavishly-built basilica sits in the middle of the African bush in an impoverished city where only a minority of homes have running water and adequate sanitation. The cost of the basilica doubled the national debt of Côte d'Ivoire<sup class="noprint"></sup>, but many of the country's Roman Catholics are proud of the church.
Pope John Paul II insisted as a condition of his attendance of the consecration that a hospital be constructed nearby. The Pope laid the founding stone for the hospital. The stone can be seen where he laid it as a lonely symbol in the middle of a nearby field, as the hospital has not been built."Comment
-
This is the inside of the Basilica. I was told by the tour guide there that several dozen contruciton workers are "built into" the walls and floors: they were victims of accidents during the construction, and ended up in being cemented in...
I cant garanty this information to be true though.Comment
-
In november 2004, things turned extremely sour when two Ivory Coast airforce Sukhoi's took off from Yamoussoukro, and opened fire on their French Army "friends". 9 French soldiers died, and about 50 others were wounded.
(My take on this is that the french army was welcom when it was defending the southern zone of Ivory Coast when the national army was to weak to defend itself. But now after several years, the national army was strong enaugh to kick the rebels out of the north, and it was no longer happy to have the French garding a cease fire zone between the two forces, preventing the national army from attacking the rebels. The "Friedly fire" attack was probably a way to tell the french troops that they were now free to go back home... Or maybe it realy was just an accident?)
The airplanes were being flown by Bielorussian mercenaries, with local copilots. The planes had been sold to Ivory Coast by a French weapons dealer.
French troops were at Yamoussoucro airfield when the planes returned from the fratricide mission. The pilots were permitted to leave the scene, and only then were the two Sukhoi's destroyed.
Why werent the pilots arested? Who knows... When they were arrested a few days latter at a border, France said that they were free to go.
It is here that scenes from movies like Lord of War or Blood Diamond become reality...Last edited by Jean-Loup; 04-15-2009, 10:10 AM.Comment
-
The "deliberate and unprovoqued destruction of the entire Ivory Coast airforce" by french troops was percieved as a provocation by many in Ivory Coast.
Civil unrest started in Abidjan, fueled by a propaganda TV channel led by one of the Presidents men, who has the gift to enflamme the masses, and said that all French troops and civilians must now leave Ivory Coast. Remember, it was Ivory Coast who had asked for Frances help in the first place.Comment
-
Civilians rioted against French troops, and attacked white civilians, and stole their belongings.
On several occasions, things degenerated, and French soldiers fired at civilians, killing and wounding some.
This was immediatly shown on the Propaganda TV station, and blown out of proportion so as to make things degenerate even more.Comment
-
All in all, things remained relatively civilized, with a few stories of rapes and murders against whites, and a few stories of French soldiers shooting "pregnant women and children".
The whites were evacuated to the airport in Abidjan, abandonning their jobs and their homes.Comment
-
This man is carrying an interesting sign: "I am xenophobic, so what?"
Whites arent the only ones who can be racist. I have heard that some blacks find that whites have a "cadavre smell".Last edited by Jean-Loup; 03-19-2007, 01:26 PM.Comment
-
In the end, most of the whites left.Comment
-
Here are images taken in a village attacked by rebels for no apparent reason. The scene is very similar to what can be seen in the movie "Blood Diamond".
The village was burned down...Comment
-
...and its inhabitants killed.Comment
-
The bodies are left to rot in the sun. Maybe some stray dogs also also participated to the "decomposition process"Comment
Comment