Côte d'Ivoire: War Too Lucrative to Contemplate Peace, Says Think Tank

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200407130687.html

>SNIP
With Cote d'Ivoire's peace process virtually paralysed and all hopes pinned on a regional summit in Ghana in two weeks time, a top international thinktank has urged other West African leaders to tackle those reaping economic rewards from the current deadlock.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report entitled "No Peace in Sight" (click here for a pdf of the full report), that government figures, rebels, businessmen and members of the security forces were all cashing in on the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire.

The country has been split into a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north for the last 22 months even though the fighting officially stopped in May 2003.

"The political impasse is exceptionally lucrative for almost everyone except ordinary citizens," the ICG said in its report, published on Monday. "Today's political actors have found that war serves as an excellent means of enrichment, and they may be ill-served by the restoration of peace and security."
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[Laughing Mirror]

1. Still no word on Kiefer

the French-Canadian journalist disappeared on April 16. Very much an insider into the corrupt Laurent Bgagbo regime. The man who knew too much. Had a rendezvous in a parking lot with Michel Legré, half-brother of Simone Bgabo, the First Lady of the Côte d'Ivoire, when he disappeared.

Legré was silent until a French judge waved a copy of Legré's cell phone bill for April 16 under his nose and Legré cracked. Phone bill shows a flurry of calls before and after the time of Kiefer's disappearance. Legré had been calling with the director of the cabinet of the Economy and Finance minister, delivering a minute-by-minute blow-by-blow, as it were, of the progress of the kidnapping operation.

Just the other day, the Gbagbos lost a libel case in French court against the newspaper LeMonde. Apparently some of the articles seemed to link the First couple with Ivorien death squads. Case thrown out of court. LeMonde was able to back up their sources; no malice was intended.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. Oy vey!

Thats no good!

I need to investigate this!

Thanks!