January 7

Reminiscent of Rwanda and Darfur...
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gbagbo-tied-forces-back-icoast-ethnic-killings-un/

It's terrifying that such actions are still permitted in a world which has experienced atrocities such as the Holocaust, the genocides in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the ongoing killings in Darfur, not to mention the over 500 million who have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over resources and ethic conflict, the greatest number killed in war since World War 2. At least UN troops are insisting on staying in the Cote d'Ivoire, despite Laurent Gbagbo, the man who has declared himself president after elections did not go in his favour, insisting they leave. Let us hope that this is not history repeating itself as UN troops stayed in Rwanda until ten Belgium peace keepers were killed, leaving the country, and the Tutsi people to their fate. The most concerning part, to me, is the sanctioning of ethic killings by would-be-government forces. With the UN unwilling to intervene in the sovereignty of another state, except in an instance of genocide, and with the UN being unwilling to label any war as 'genocide', what is to be done?
The only answer I know of is public awareness, which increases media attention, which in turn puts pressure on international governments, which hopefully pressures the offending government(Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire) to reform. The only problem in this case is that the offending government is illegitimate. Perhaps Gbagbo's need for power will be satisfied by the international attention...