A grave situation has developed in Africa with the marauding imperialist powers plunging entire countries into chaos and anarchy in order to advance their imperialist aims.
A fierce civil war is raging in Ivory Coast in West Africa following the imperialists move to organize regime change in that country. According to reports, up to 1,000 civilians have been massacred by the forces of Alassane Ouattara, who is backed by France, the United States and international bodies. The imperialists have declared their intention to replace the current president Laurent Gbagbo with Ouattara.
France and Nigeria sponsored a UN resolution on March 30, 2011 that called on all state officials of Ivory Coast to recognise Ouattara. This was the signal for the beginning of Ouattara’s military assault on Gbagbo’s forces. Ouattara’s forces have seized most of the country, including the political capital, Yamassoukro, and the main port, San Pedro. They are now fighting to gain control of the commercial capital, Abidjan.
"In a sense, this resolution is maybe the last message that we wanted to send to Gbagbo which is very simple: Gbagbo must go," France’s ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, said. France is the former colonial power, with deep interests in Ivory Coast.
The UN resolution has given the green light for a civil war with disastrous consequences for the civilian population. One million people are thought to have fled the Ivory Coast in recent months. The numbers have swelled in the last few days. Many of them have crossed the border into neighbouring Liberia, which now faces a major humanitarian crisis in overcrowded refugee camps.
France has a military presence in Ivory Coast since the previous civil war and it has reinforced its forces now. It has 1,400 troops in that country and taken control of the main airport. The French seizure of the airport is an act of colonial aggression. Under the cover of international legality and humanitarian concerns, France is in the process of reasserting direct control over Ivory Coast.
The massacre in Ivory Coast is a fall-out of this drive by France to strengthen its sphere of influence in Africa. The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has clearly declared US support for the rebels in the civil war. A grave situation has developed in Africa with the marauding imperialist powers plunging entire countries into chaos and anarchy in order to advance their imperialist aims.