Ouagadougou: Following a post-electoral crisis, France decided in April 2011 to bomb the presidential palace, with the outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo and his relatives inside.
‘In support of the UNOCI peacekeepers (United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire), the French force Licorne bombed, yesterday evening (Monday April 4), the bastions held by the supporters of the outgoing president in Abidjan. The palace of the outgoing president was targeted,’ wrote the French media outlet La Dépêche.
BFTV also reported on the operation in these terms: ‘helicopters from the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and the French force Licorne bombed positions of the Defense and Security Forces on Monday (FDS) loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. France said it had authorized its units present in Ivory Coast to intervene alongside UNOCI to neutralize heavy weapons from Gbagbo’s army used against civilian populations.
The Ivorian post-electoral crisis broke out following the proclamation of the results of the second r
ound of the presidential election between Alassane Dramane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo, the outgoing president.
The results proclaimed, out of time, by the Independent Electoral Commission, under the protection of international forces, had not been recognized by the Constitutional Council, which, after announcing the invalidity of the results in seven regions of the country, announced the victory of Laurent Gbagbo.
Forces favorable to Ouattara, holed up at the Golf Hotel under the protection of international forms, then stood up against forces favorable to the Gbagbo camp.
The decisive intervention of France, in support of the forces favorable to Ouattara, dislodged Gbagbo from the palace and facilitated the advent of the Ouattara regime.
Source: Burkina Information Agency