Dangerous streets

Amnesty International has expressed its concern about the violence in Abidjan perpetrated by the security forces against ordinary people. I hear the same thing over the telephone when I call friends. Pro-Gbagbo youths with machetes chasing youths in Abobo and beating them if they catch them, soldiers using tear gas even during the daytime in Koumassi to chase everyone back inside. The most chilling story came from someone who, on the way home to Abobo just before the curfew began, saw SUVs pull up at a house. The electricity was off there. A man in a boubou who looked like a neighbor knocked at the door. The people in the house opened the door. The man and soldiers went in. Shots were heard.

Meanwhile, RTI continues to tell only its side of the story: Gbagbo is protecting the country's sovereignty against unwarranted interference from the international community and the French who want to tell Ivorians how to run their own country and want to install their puppet as president.