Press deals out blame for Ivorian crisis

Ivorians have had their fill of violence

French and Ivorian papers point the finger both at France and at Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo for the crisis in the Ivory Coast, from where hundreds of expatriates and thousands of nationals have tried to flee recent violence.

"Unspeakable, unimaginable, intolerable" is how one commentator in Ivorian newspaper Soir Info describes French actions over the past week.

France's attack on the Ivorian air force the previous week was, according to the commentary, the starting point for the riots that followed.

"Barbarism, violence, multiple murders have punctuated the days of the people of Abidjan since that infamous Saturday 6 November," Soir Info rages.

"France's fiasco"

Another Ivorian newspaper, Fraternite Matin, also blames France for what it believes was the unnecessary use of force.

"Why carry out this aggression just when a clear solution was presenting itself?" it asks.

Gbagbo was unable to take advantage of the opportunity for peace 24 Heures

"France's fiasco" is the headline in the French daily Liberation, where commentator Patrick Sabatier says French actions, or rather inaction, have led to the current crisis.

"The most serious mistake made by the Elysee - the one and only centre of power in this affair - was to accept, through indecision, confusion, or muddled calculation, the deterioration.

"We let the Abidjan government rearm relaunch the war," it concludes.

Le Figaro is critical of French policy in the Ivory Coast for not preventing the confusion on the ground, expressing sympathy for French troops there.

"Being forced to manage the crisis from day to day... the French servicemen would like to know which way to jump," says the Paris-based daily.

Gbagbo under fire

The Ivorian daily 24 Heures however believes that it is shortcomings in President Gbagbo's leadership that have caused the unrest.

The image of an Ivory Coast sailing on a quiet sea was nothing but an illusion Le Monde

"He was unable to take advantage of the opportunity for peace," the paper's editorial says, adding that Mr Gbagbo had failed to practice a "resilient and disinterested politics of real national reconciliation."

France's Le Monde publishes an article equally critical of the Ivorian leader.

The commentary by two senior officials from the International Crisis Group describes Mr Gbagbo as "a more than uncertain partner in the search for a peaceful resolution".

Commentators in both countries also agree that any state of peace which was said to have existed in Ivory Coast following the signing of accords in January 2003 was illusory.

"The image of an Ivory Coast sailing on a quiet sea was nothing but an illusion," argue the ICG writers in Le Monde.

"Everyone was dreaming," 24 Heures agrees, "sitting in the clouds like in a fairy tale."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.