As the former President of Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) Laurent Gbagbo has been desperately attempting to cling to power after losing an election in November, since then Pro-Gbagbo forces have attacked unarmed demonstrators with live ammunition. Election winner Alassane Ouattara has set up his rival Administration in the Abidjan Golf Hotel protected by U.N. troops.
Now Gbagbo has issued a threat to attack UN flights in the country.
No-Fly Zone Imposed!
Finally! Except it's not in Libya; it's in the Ivory Coast. And it's not enforced by the United Nations. It's targeted at U.N. aircraft, by the illegitimate government violently clinging to power in that African country of 21 million.
An Economist writer recently explained why the west should care:
It seems almost obscene, this battle for personal power, as hundreds die, with perhaps many more hundreds of deaths to come. Yet the principle is important. Too often in Africa, the incumbent Big Man has been allowed to cling on to power after being defeated in reasonably fair democratic elections. As Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian former UN secretary general said last month, if Mr Gbagbo is allowed to prevail, "elections as an instrument of peaceful political change in Africa will suffer a serious setback."
Much the same logic applies to the example a Ghaddafi victory would set in the Middle East, which is why the likes of Bill Clinton are calling for a no-fly zone over the country.
UPDATE 3-Ivorian gunmen move close to central Abidjan
By Ange Aboa and Tim Cocks
ABIDJAN, March 14 (Reuters) - Ivorian gunmen fighting to depose Laurent Gbagbo after he refused to concede an election were advancing across Abidjan on Monday, bringing their fight closer to the city centre and the presidential palace.
Witnesses in the Abidjan suburb of Adjame, about 3 km (1.9 miles) from the central business district where Gbagbo's palace lies, said gunmen backing Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara had taken over parts of it and were fighting pro-Gbagbo forces with AK-47s and heavier weapons.
Analysts fear Gbagbo will use his "Young Patriot" movement -- a disparate group of violent youths who have wreaked havoc on Abidjan in the past -- as a last resort. They have set up road blocks all over the country and many have automatic weapons.
The U.N. has disregarded Gbagbo's threats against its flights as it maintains its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast is the aftermath of the 2002 Civil War.
Ivory Coast produces no Oil. Ivory Coast produces something far more important: Cocoa. The new President is keeping a cocoa export ban in place pending the resolution of the conflict. I don't want to be Jonesing for my chocolate fix.
But seriously the U.S. should vigorously support the rights of Ivorian citizens not to have their election stolen, even if they don't have any Oil, or a strategic location.