Special Envoy - Nicolas Sarkozy knew his receptive audience. It was before the French community in Côte d'Ivoire, still marked by six months of tension and post-election violence, the president announced Saturday, May 21, maintaining a French military presence in Côte d'Ivoire. Nicolas Sarkozy speaking to the return of the investiture ceremony that morning in Yamoussoukro, the new head of the Ivorian state, Alassane Ouattara.
Elected in November 2010, his victory was violently opposed by his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested April 11 by the intervention of the French Licorne force stationed in Abidjan. In front of several hundred gathered on the French military base of Port-Bouet, Nicolas Sarkozy announced after the departure of Unicorn, established in 2002 under a UN mandate to maintain peace after the attempted coup rebels North and to ensure the security of the electoral process, "we will keep a permanent military presence here to protect our nationals (ten thousands).
The other part of that presence, being negotiated with the new Ivorian president who was the plaintiff, is "to contribute to the reform of the Ivorian army," badly shaken by the six-month crisis and destabilized under Laurent Gbagbo. According to Nicolas Sarkozy, he is responding "to the challenge of restoring the rule over the whole territory of the reconstruction and security forces truly national, not ethnic." The French presence and its contours remain to be defined.
A source at the Elysee, the French battalion could count "200 to 300 men", as against 900 in normal and 1100 in the current post-crisis. Another diplomatic source evokes a force of "600 members". "The renewed terms and conditions" of military cooperation will be entered into a new defense agreement.
A new agreement which will come, according to President Sarkozy in "the new African policy, and even a new foreign policy, our engagement in Côte d'Ivoire has shown in recent months." "The French army is not there to protect a government whatsoever. The French army has no authority to intervene in internal affairs," he said, as he had already stated in his speech in Cape Town in 2008.
It is announced that the permanence of French soldiers in Côte d'Ivoire, soldiers who have actively participated in the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo - and recovery, very proactive, French economic cooperation in the African country of West demonstrate the reinvestment of Ivorian scene by the former colonial power.
Christophe Châtelot 
Elected in November 2010, his victory was violently opposed by his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested April 11 by the intervention of the French Licorne force stationed in Abidjan. In front of several hundred gathered on the French military base of Port-Bouet, Nicolas Sarkozy announced after the departure of Unicorn, established in 2002 under a UN mandate to maintain peace after the attempted coup rebels North and to ensure the security of the electoral process, "we will keep a permanent military presence here to protect our nationals (ten thousands).
The other part of that presence, being negotiated with the new Ivorian president who was the plaintiff, is "to contribute to the reform of the Ivorian army," badly shaken by the six-month crisis and destabilized under Laurent Gbagbo. According to Nicolas Sarkozy, he is responding "to the challenge of restoring the rule over the whole territory of the reconstruction and security forces truly national, not ethnic." The French presence and its contours remain to be defined.
A source at the Elysee, the French battalion could count "200 to 300 men", as against 900 in normal and 1100 in the current post-crisis. Another diplomatic source evokes a force of "600 members". "The renewed terms and conditions" of military cooperation will be entered into a new defense agreement.
A new agreement which will come, according to President Sarkozy in "the new African policy, and even a new foreign policy, our engagement in Côte d'Ivoire has shown in recent months." "The French army is not there to protect a government whatsoever. The French army has no authority to intervene in internal affairs," he said, as he had already stated in his speech in Cape Town in 2008.
It is announced that the permanence of French soldiers in Côte d'Ivoire, soldiers who have actively participated in the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo - and recovery, very proactive, French economic cooperation in the African country of West demonstrate the reinvestment of Ivorian scene by the former colonial power.
Christophe Châtelot
- Ouattara inaugurated in Cote D'Ivoire - Xinhua (22/05/2011)
- Sarkozy backs Nigeria's UN Security Council bid (22/05/2011)
- The will of the people had triumphed, says Ouattara (21/05/2011)
- Will the global community repeat the Libyan scenario in Côte d'Ivoire (08/04/2011)
- Ban Ki-Moon to attend Ouattara's inauguration, meets Jonathan (19/05/2011)
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