MUSLIM HATE IN IVORY COAST
Ivory Coast creates military zone after
jihadist attack
AFP
July 13, 2020
Ivory Coast has created a special military zone
in the north of the country, the government said Monday, less than a month
after a deadly jihadist attack on a frontier post.
The pre-dawn killing of 14 army personnel at Kafolo, on the country's border with Burkina Faso, was the
first assault by Islamist extremists on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a
raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead.
"Given the persistent insecurity at the
borders between Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso due to the presence of armed
terrorist groups in these neighbouring countries and
following the attack," the government has authorised
"the creation of an operational zone," according to a statement made
at the end of a cabinet meeting.
The zone will have a single central command for
military operations.
"This northern operational zone will make
it possible to move from the phase of border surveillance to a defensive
posture... in order to prevent any infiltration of these armed groups onto
national territory," the statement said.
The attack at Kafolo
has not been claimed but security sources believe it was carried out by the
Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an organisation
linked to Al-Qaeda.
Around 60 people, including the jihadist leader
who led the June 11 assault, were arrested before and after the attack,
according to security sources.
It took place in the same zone where Ivory
Coast and Burkina Faso launched a ground-breaking joint operation to flush out
jihadists in May.
Ivory Coast shares a 550-kilometre (340-mile)
border with Burkina Faso, where jihadist violence has claimed nearly 1,000
lives and forced 860,000 people from their homes over the past five years.
Ivory Coast attack likely targeted senior Obama administration official
March 13, 2016
FoxNews.com
A deadly attack on a popular Ivory Coast beach resort Sunday that killed at
least 16 most likely targeted a U.S. delegation led by the assistant commerce
secretary, who was visiting the country, a diplomatic source in the region told
Fox News.
There was no indication any Americans had been killed or wounded in the attack,
according to the source.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Marcus Jadotte was
leading a group of Americans in Grand-Bassam, including college recruiters from
the University of Florida. U.S. embassy officials from the capital city of
Abidjan were also included in the group, according to the source.
The delegation was supposed to arrive at the scene of the attack, Etoile du
Sud, a hotel popular with Westerners. The delegation had not yet made it to the
hotel when the attack occurred.
A jihadist group called Ansar Dine, or "defenders of the faith,"
linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was suspected of the attack,
according to the source.Al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb later claimed responsibility for the attack,
according to a Jihad monitoring website cited by the Associated Press.
The US Embassy in Ivory Coast instructed all Americans to "shelter in
place."
The U.S. ambassador to the Ivory Coast was not in the country at the time of the
attack having left to attend a conference in Washington led by Secretary of
State John Kerry.
But the deadly attack did leave 14 civilians and two special forces soldiers
dead, as well as all six attackers, President Alassane Ouattara said, according
to Reuters.
The attackers, who were "heavily armed and wearing balaclavas, fired at
guests at the Etoile du Sud, a large hotel which was full of expats in the
current heatwave," a witness told AFP.
Marcel Guy said he saw at least four gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles on the
beach. He said one approached two children, and spoke in Arabic. One child knelt and prayed, the other child was shot dead.
"I was swimming when it started and I ran away," said Dramane Kima,
who showed video of the carnage to Reuters. He also took pictures of grenades
and ammunition clips he believed were left behind by the gunmen.
Jacques Able, who identified himself as the owner of Etoile du Sud said one
person had been killed at the hotel.
A receptionist at Etoile du Sud hotel said the attacks happened on the beach.
"We don't know where they came from, and we don't know where they've
gone," he said of the gunmen.
Security forces and members of the Ivorian Red Cross were clearing the bodies.
Josiane Sekongo, who lives across from one of the
town's many beachfront hotels, said she ran outside when she heard the gunfire
and saw people running away from the beach. Sekongo,
25, said residents were hiding in their homes as security forces responded.
At least one French person died in the attack, a French Foreign Ministry
spokesperson told Reuters.
French President Francois Hollande denounced the "cowardly attack."
"France will bring its logistical support and intelligence to Ivory Coast
to find the attackers," Hollande said in a statement viewed by Reuters.
"[France] will pursue and intensify its cooperation with its partners in
the fight against terrorism."
Attacks by Islamists on hotels frequented by foreigners in two other West
African countries, Mali in November and Burkina Faso in January, killed dozens
of people and indicated that extremist attacks are spreading from North Africa.
Missionaries
Flee Violence in Ivory Coast
Muslim rebel attacks force school closures.
David Miller, Compass Direct
posted 12/12/2002
Dozens of missionaries fled Cote d'Ivoire (the former
Ivory Coast) in October, highlighting a crisis that may change the church's
status in the West African nation.
Hundreds of disgruntled soldiers launched a military
uprising in three major cities on September 19, seeking to overthrow President
Laurent Gbagbo. Fighting quickly spread to half the country of 15 million, with
battle lines drawn roughly between the predominantly Muslim population in the
north and the Christian and animist south.
"If the rebel forces should gain control of the
government, then it's likely that Islam could become more favored and
Christianity open to greater opposition," said Larry Sellers, a
The most violent attacks have occurred in centrally
located
Some 160 students from the
In mid-October, the U.S. Embassy began encouraging
expatriates to leave. Subsequently, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, the
Christian and Missionary Alliance, New Tribes Mission, and the
The warring sides are observing a temporary cease-fire
and conducting negotiations in Togo. But the Associated Press reported that
Muslim soldiers had begun to mistreat the Christian population in areas under
rebel control.