The streets of Abidjan are quiet, homes are being shattered, and hundreds of people are dead or injured; nonetheless, protestors are determined to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters. 

“The situation is hard since it’s mostly urban combats, so civilians are stuck home, can’t go out to buy food and other things they need, plus there’s a general insecurity with armed troupes everywhere, and bullets flying everywhere,” Emmanuel Amoikan, a UW chemical engineering student from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, said.   

In 2010, an election was held following the end of Gbagbo’s regime. 

Gbagbo’s resistance to step down from power lead to the formation of an opposition force lead by the election winner, Alassane Ouattara, who worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

“I don’t think I can exhaustively explain the whole situation here but basically it is another African country that faces the challenges of Democracy, transparency, freedom and rights of people and all difficulties that comes along with it; corruption inside the political class, manipulation of the poor and uneducated population, and battle for power between main political leaders that act often above the law,” Amoikan said. 

The conflict between the prevailing government and the president-elect force, reached a pivotal stage in April, according to the New York Times. 

“The civil war is affecting everyone; most of the French banks have been closed by order of the French government to put pressure on Gbagbo and his administration, without even considering the effect it would have on the Ivorian population that need its money,” Amoikan said.

According to the Associated Press, Monday, the French, former Ivory Coast colonizers, and the United Nation’s, allied with Ouattara’s force and  opened fire on  Gbagbo’s force with helicopters. 

They also sent foot soldiers to make their way into the city of Abidjan.

 “Right now the media is trying to cover thousands of assassinations in the west part of the country due to the army of the side the “International Community” supports. They even try to cover the intervention of the French army and the UN by saying they’re just destructing the massive weapons to protect civilians,” Amoikan said. 

“And the truth is in my country it’s that they’re not fighting for freedom or democracy but purely for their interests, and the media will never tell you that,” he said. 

Gbagbo claims that Ouattara did not win the 2010 election and does not seem to have any intention of leaving power,  according to the Associated Press.  

“Not that I support any sides in Ivory Coast, but I believe in resolution of this Ivorian Crisis (where neither of the sides are totally right) by the means of inter-Ivorian dialogue not by external interferences from foreign countries with doubtful motivations like the USA and France,” Amoikan said. 

Email: Egla Negussie