Annan Defends Letter Warning of Fallouja Risk

THE WORLD
Annan Defends Letter Warning of Fallouja Risk
November 6, 2004
By Maggie Farley, Times Staff Writer

UNITED NATIONS — Despite accusations of interference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that it was his duty to speak up about how an assault on Fallouja might increase insecurity and disrupt elections slated for January, though he recognized that the final decision belonged to Iraq.

"We know that obviously the Iraqi government is responsible for running its affairs. But we have the responsibility to assist and work with them on the elections, and so to express concern was our business," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not something that one should take as amiss."

Annan warned in a private letter sent this week to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that a full-scale attack on Fallouja would fuel further divisions and instability in Iraq and undermine participation in the elections. He also expressed concern that an attack would cause more civilian casualties and short-circuit negotiations to get nationalists to join the political process.

British and American spokesmen said the decision to use force in Fallouja was in the hands of the Iraqi government. In Brussels, Allawi said he found that in the letter, Annan seemed "confused."

"I don't know what he means by 'not to attack,' or 'to attack,' " he told BBC radio. "What are the substitutes? I don't know what pressure he has to bear on the insurgents. If he can stop the insurgents from inflicting damage and killing Iraqis, then he is welcome."

The letter underlined a fundamental difference in philosophy between the U.N. and the U.S.-led coalition on how best to neutralize the insurgents and "win the hearts and minds" of Iraqis.

"This is a very difficult situation, and difficult choices have to be made," Annan said. "We have extremist terrorists who have created an impossible situation for the average Iraqi…. So I can understand the desire and concern to want to deal with these people. We are in a process where one wants to pacify these hotspots, but at the same time one also wants to woo all Iraqis to participate in the process to make it as inclusive as possible."

An attack on Fallouja that causes high civilian casualties may swing residents' sympathies to the side of the insurgents, and cut off any prospect of bringing more moderate Sunni Muslim leaders into the elections, Annan said.

The letter, though private, was another in a recent series of declarations from Annan that put the world organization at odds with Washington. In a September interview, Annan said he thought the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq without the Security Council's approval was "illegal." Annan also said recently that he thought the Iraq war did not make the world safer.

On Friday, he said that he congratulated President Bush on his electoral victory. But as much as the Bush administration may be frustrated by the U.N., officials at the world body are frustrated by its partnership of necessity. Just as the U.N. agreed to help rebuild a country from a war it didn't back, it now finds itself trying to help organize elections in a context it believes to be counterproductive. And while the organization is being asked to take on more responsibility to make elections work in Iraq, officials fear it may be blamed if elections fail.

At the same time, Allawi and other Iraqi leaders are critical of the U.N. for sending only a few dozen staffers to Iraq and then second-guessing the government's decisions from afar.

"The Iraqi sovereign government is dealing with a situation on the ground. They are probably the best judge of what is likely to work and what is not likely to work," said Iraq's ambassador to the U.N., Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, who will meet with Annan on Monday to protest the letter.

On Friday, Annan lifted the 35-person limit on U.N. staffers to be sent to Iraq to help set up elections, but declined to say how many would be deployed or when, citing security concerns. Annan said that election preparations appeared to be on track and that the U.N. was committed to making the balloting happen on time, but said Friday that he and his election experts disagreed with Iraq's decision to allow its expatriates to vote in January.

Elections chief Carina Perelli told reporters that organizing one election within a tight timeframe was difficult enough — including expatriate voters would be like organizing two. She added that it was costly, technically difficult and prone to fraud — but they would do it if the government asked them to.

French Troops Clash With Mobs in Ivory Coast

French Troops Clash With Mobs in Ivory Coast
Saturday, November 06, 2004

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — French troops clashed with soldiers and angry mobs Saturday after Ivory Coast warplanes killed at least nine French peacekeepers and an American civilian in an airstrike — mayhem that threatened to draw foreign troops deeper into the West African country's escalating civil war.

France hit back, destroying what it said was the entire Ivory Coast air force — two Russian-made Sukhoi jets used in the bombing and five helicopter gunships. France scrambled three Mirage fighter jets to West Africa and ordered about 300 troops to ready for deployment in Ivory Coast.

Mob violence erupted in Ivory Coast's national commercial capital, Abidjan, upon France's retaliation, sending thousands of angry loyalists armed with machetes, axes and clubs out into the streets in fiery rampages in search of French targets.

"French go home!" loyalist mobs shouted, as thousands set fire to at least two French schools and tried to storm a French military base, seeking out French civilians as French and Ivory Coast forces briefly traded gunfire.

"Everybody get your Frenchman!" young men screamed to each other, swinging machetes.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo would be "held personally responsible by the international community for (maintaining) the public order in Abidjan."

The U.N. Security Council, convening in emergency session, demanded an immediate halt to all military action in Ivory Coast and emphasized that U.N. and French forces here were authorized to use "all necessary means" to keep the peace.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he will draft a resolution to impose an arms embargo on Ivory Coast. Paris also will seek to impose U.N. sanctions against those blocking the peace process, violating human rights and preventing the disarmament of fighters, he said.

Hard-liners in Ivory Coast's military broke a more than year-old cease-fire, launching surprise airstrikes Thursday against rebel positions and vowing to retake the northern part of the country held by rebels since the civil war began in 2002.

Government officials said Saturday's airstrike that hit a French peacekeeper position was an accident — but the violence highlighted the nationalist fervor in the pro-government south.

Many there resent the French troops, suspecting them of siding with rebels, even though the peacekeepers have protected government troops in the past. France has about 4,000 troops in Ivory Coast, and a separate U.N. peacekeeping force numbers around 6,000.

A French defense ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity that the United States had shown "great understanding about France's concerns in Ivory Coast." But he did not know whether U.S. military assistance had been sought.

The U.N. force includes thousands of West African troops, with the rest coming from an array of contributing nations, none American.

Saturday's violence began when government warplanes struck French positions at Brobo, near the northern town of Bouake, U.N. military spokesman Philippe Moreux said.

Eight French soldiers were killed and 30 others wounded, French Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said in Paris. An American citizen also was killed in the raid, the French presidency said without elaborating.

A ninth French soldier died of his wounds, de La Sabliere said in New York.

Council diplomats said the American who was killed was believed to have worked for a non-governmental organization and to have been at the French base.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Ergibe Boyd in Abidjan said diplomats have not confirmed the death. She said the American likely was a missionary since there is no U.S. military or diplomatic presence in the area.

In response to the strike, French infantry destroyed the Sukhoi fighter jets at the airport in Yamoussoukro, 75 miles to the south, French military spokesman Col. Henry Aussavy said. The jets were believed to be the ones that carried out Saturday's strike and two earlier days of bombings of rebel-held towns.

More explosions rocked the capital after dark, apparently as French helicopters swept in to destroy the five helicopters. The French forces "realized the objective assigned to it of neutralizing the Ivorian aircrafts," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

France sent three Mirage fighter jets nearby Gabon, and French President Jacques Chirac said he ordered the deployment of two more military companies to Ivory Coast.

The Security Council authorized U.N. and French troops patrolling a zone dividing the north from the south "to prevent any hostile action" and condemned any attempt to send forces through the zone.

In Abidjan, French troops fired in the air and shot tear gas to hold back massive mobs trying to overrun the main French military base.

French and Ivory Coast troops traded gunfire on the tarmac of the international airport, as Ivory Coast troops tried to destroy French aircraft there in retaliation.

A French soldier was slightly injured and an airplane was lightly damaged before negotiations ended the clash, French spokesman Jacques Combarieu said.

Thousands went house to house seeking out French civilians, Aussavy said.

At least three French families called French authorities to say loyalist militias had stormed their homes, a Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate word on any civilian casualties.

Ivory Coast's government was alternately conciliatory and challenging.

Presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said on state TV: "The president asks all Ivorians to remain calm ... French and foreigners settled in Ivory Coast are not responsible for the Ivorian crisis. We mustn't bring the war here."

State TV also aired loyalist leaders calling for a march on the French military base and other targets Sunday.

"We are at war. France attacked us," unidentified people said in one of many such broadcasts late Saturday.

A senior member of Ivory Coast's government — Sebastien Dano Djeje, Cabinet member for National Reconciliation — said the bombing of the French position in the north "was a mistake. We didn't aim to hit them."

Djeje added, however: "But what proves it was Ivorian planes? We have to do an investigation."

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, was the pride of France's former colonial empire for prosperous decades after independence in 1960. A downturn in commodities prices and political change in the 1990s encouraged instability, and the country suffered its first-ever military coup in 1999.

Turmoil and regional, ethnic and political hatreds have reigned since. Civil war erupted in September 2002. A power-sharing deal brokered by the French ended major fighting in 2003, but otherwise failed to take hold.

U.N. Condemns Ivory Coast Attack

U.N. Condemns Ivory Coast Attack
Saturday, November 06, 2004

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council demanded an immediate halt to all military action in Ivory Coast and confirmed Saturday that U.N. peacekeepers and French forces were authorized to use "all necessary means" to carry out their mandate.

In an emergency meeting, the council also authorized U.N. and French troops patrolling a zone dividing the rebel-held north from the government-controlled south "to prevent any hostile action" and condemned any attempt to send forces through the zone.

The council said it "intends to examine rapidly further actions, including individual measures, to be taken."

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he will draft a resolution to impose an arms embargo on Ivory Coast. Paris also will seek to impose U.N. sanctions against those blocking the peace process, violating human rights and preventing the disarmament of fighters, he said.

"The Security Council is impatient," he said. "What is happening now is very serious in Ivory Coast and I hope that the council in the coming days will be able to adopt a resolution."

Council resolutions are legally binding.

U.S. Ambassador John Danforth, the council president, said the French resolution will be considered within days. He said the council "fully supports France" and the U.N. force "in actions taken to protect the cease-fire."

Council members agreed on the statement after a closed-door briefing on the latest developments in Ivory Coast, including an attack on a French base that killed nine French soldiers and an American civilian, and wounded more than 20 French soldiers.

The council condemned the attack against French forces in Bouake, the largest rebel-held city in the north, and the northern airstrikes by the Ivory Coast military as violations of the May 3, 2003, cease-fire.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who attended the council meeting, said afterward he spoke to Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo twice Saturday and told him "we need to really end this hostility — because he took this initiative" to launch the attacks.

"But he did tell me that he was going to end it, so we'll wait and see," Annan said.

"What is important is that the hostilities stop immediately. It is important that the president calms the population so that they stop violent demonstrations in the capital in Abidjan, where there are lots of people, not only Ivorian but lots of foreigners, and we don't want to see the situation aggravated."

Annan said he also spoke to French President Jacques Chirac and the leaders of Nigeria and Ghana "to find means to calm the situation."

Annan helped broker July talks in which government and rebel leaders agreed to resurrect a transitional government.

De La Sabliere stressed the importance of resuming a dialogue and getting the parties to implement the commitments they have made to restore peace.

"In the council, we believe that there is no military solution in Ivory Coast, only a political solution," he said.

Government warplanes started bombing Bouake early Thursday. Col. Philippe Mangou, a government military chief for operations, told The Associated Press in Ivory Coast that the government planned to reunify the country at last.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has been split into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a September 2002 coup attempt launched the country into civil war. The 2003 peace deal was forged under pressure from former colonial ruler France and others.