City on fire...

I wonder when, as a nation, we shall ever learn the difference between freedom and looseness, between restriction and destruction--so far we certainly have not. When people have the courage to think honestly, they will live honestly, and only through transparent honesty of life will a new civilization be born. The people who think and live sincerely will bear children who have a vision of tr truth, children living freely and beautifully. We must have health everywhere if we are to overcome such civilizations as we see falling to pieces today, not only health of body, but health of mind. Humanity today is diseased, it is proving itself diseased in murder, fire, hideous atrocity.

--The Art Spirit

A hermit said, 'We do not make progress because we do not realize how much we can do. We lose interest in the work we have begun, and we want to be good without even trying.'

--The Desert Fathers

Ivory Coast Troops Fire on Protesters
New York Times (Adam Nossiter), December 16th, 2010

Security forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast opened fire on demonstrators in the economic capital, Abidjan, on Thursday, beating and killing marchers who had planned to disrupt state television, one of the principal underpinnings of the government’s hold on power, according to observers and news reports.

A leading Ivorian human rights group said at least 15 people had been killed among the crowds of supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who was elected president last month in a long-delayed vote but has been unable to assume office because Mr. Gbagbo has refused to step down.

Estimates of the scale of violence varied widely. Mr. Ouattara’s camp said 32 people were killed Thursday, while Amnesty International said that 9 were killed and news agencies reported death tolls between 6 and 18.

A police spokesman for Mr. Gbagbo’s government declined to provide specifics in a phone interview, saying, “I know nothing about it.” But Mr. Gbagbo’s education minister said on state television that 20 people had died, 10 of whom were police officers attacked by armed protesters, news agencies reported.

Mr. Ouattara has been recognized as the winner of last month’s election by the United Nations, the African Union, the United States and the European Union, leaving Mr. Gbagbo in near-total diplomatic isolation. But he has resisted repeated calls to cede the office he has had for 10 years, the last five of which he held without an election.

The country’s top elections officer proclaimed Mr. Ouattara the winner on Dec. 2, by a nearly nine-point margin. Only a day later, the head of the Constitutional Council, who is a close ally of the president, threw out vote totals from parts of the north — the stronghold of Mr. Ouattara — because of what he called “flagrant irregularities,” leading both men to claim the presidency.

The deadly standoff between the rival presidents appeared to be broadening on Thursday, as armed forces associated with the Ouattara camp clashed with Mr. Gbagbo’s troops on the streets of Abidjan, as well as in a town in the center of the country. The town, Tiebissou, is just south of a de facto border separating the northern half of the country — which has been controlled and exploited by rebels, known as the New Forces, since a 2002 civil war — from the south, which is controlled by Mr. Gbagbo. Mr. Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro, is the secretary general of the New Forces.

Abidjan endured a day of tear gas, gunfire and loss on Thursday, as demonstrators confronted well-armed security forces all over the city. At one point, Mr. Gbagbo’s forces fired on a Ouattara position, a spokesman for Mr. Ouattara said, leaving one dead.



I know people from Cote d'Ivoire. I know people currently in Cote d'Ivoire.