Ivory Coast president on brink as top general deserts

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Ivory Coast's president, Laurent Gbagbo, is facing a bloody deposition after his top general deserted and rebel forces advanced into Abidjan, his seat of power.

Heavy weapons and machine-gun fire were heard in the centre of Ivory Coast's main city. And French troops were deployed as the four-month political crisis appeared to near its endgame.

Ivorian sources in South Africa said they heard rumours that Gbagbo could be about to step down, possibly turning to South Africa for a diplomatic channel to end his 10-year rule. Officials in Pretoria denied there had been any approach.

The speculation was begun by the abrupt departure of Phillippe Mangou, Gbagbo's army chief of staff, to take refuge with his wife and five children at the South African ambassador's residence in Abidjan.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/ivory-coast-leader-general-deserts

[rpannier]

1. But he has Marion Pat Robertson, De Mint and Inhofe supporting and praying for him

I'm sure Gawd will intervene any minute now.
Or...Maybe he just did and that's why the General jumped ship

[Tx4obama]

2. Well, the Ivory Coast is a surprise

A week or so ago I did a poll here on DU that said:
"After Yemen and Libya, which country will be next to successfully oust their current leader?"

and we missed the Ivory Coast ;(

here it is: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x733752

[Tx4obama]

3. A new update regarding the Ivory Coast

From CNN's Twitter feed:

cnnbrk

Elected Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara's forces have taken control of state TV station #IvoryCoast http://on.cnn.com/gOb8uw 9 minutes ago via web

[applegrove]

4. Unfortunately Ivory Coast is one of the well off countries that get taken over by dictators. It has

great agriculture. It's original President made a deal with then french foreign minister Mitterrand to divide up all the french West Africa territories into many countries instead of creating one huge french speaking country in West Africa. Why? Because he wanted a rich little fiefdom. And he got it. Now this!