With growing clashes reported between the supporters of Ivorian ruler Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara growing, the French military 1,400 strong force has captured the Felix Houphouet-Boigny airport in the city of Abidjan.
Officials with the French force operating in the Ivory Coast say that the capture of the airport was “so that foreigners wishing to leave Ivory Coast can do so.” At the same time, they insisted they had made no decision to remove foreigners from the nation.
France’s “Force Unicorn” has been operating in the nation since 2002, and destroyed the entire Ivorian Air Force in 2004. The force has come under criticism for its use of force against Ivorian protesters.
The move was not entirely unexpected, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced late last month that the Ivory Coast was “next” on his list of nations to start Libya-style wars against.
Local news story up here in el Gran Norté Blanco maintains that the French went into Felix Houphouet-Boigny airport in the city of Abidjan, because Ivorian chocolate is NOT hitting the markets. Seems that the Ivory Coast is THE chocolate-coated heart of choco-philes everywhere. OH NO, not the chocolate! So with the chocolate market absorbing a 30% rise in wholesale prices at Easter time well, zee French simply could not tolerate that and the frisky French chocolatiers went in with guns-a-blazing.
Chocolate? I could not have guessed that after munching down six Hersey bars all washed down with a glass of chocolate milk. The chocolate? Dang, gits 'em Francoise….
So, the US fights wars for oil and the French do it for chocolate. I suppose the Italians do it for pasta and the Brits for tea and crumpets. While the Russians do it for vodka and the Spanish for red wine.
It's good to see that someone else is in it up their armpits for once. I wonder how long it's gonna take the US to jump in there too.