Tag: Coast

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to restore the Gulf Coast on the anniversary of the BP rig explosion, which caused the worst maritime oil spill in US history. "The events that unfolded on April 20, 2010 and the oil spill that followed underscores the critical link between the environment and economic health of the Gulf," Obama said in a statement.
"My administration is committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect and

SYDNEY - Australia's Barrier Reef district was rocked by an unusual 5.2-magnitude earthquake Saturday, but laid-back locals said they had barely felt a thing.
The tremor struck about 3.30pm local time (0530 GMT) about 124 kilometres southeast of Townsville at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey.
A low rumbling was felt at Magnetic Island, a 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland and part of the Great Barrier Reef, according to a

ABIDJAN - President Alassane Ouattara stamped his new authority on Ivory Coast on Thursday, as troops formerly loyal to his ousted rival Laurent Gbagbo flocked to his banner despite ongoing violence.
United Nations peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters in New York there was however still fighting and "quite a lot of looting" despite Ouattara's victory over Gbagbo's attempt to cling to power. "There are still people with arms, it is still dangerous but there are no more

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani troops rescued Turkish ambassador to Ivory Coast and nine Nigerian citizens during the recent turmoil in the western African state.
"Pakistan Army troops rescued Turkish ambassador at Ivory Coast Yekcin Kaga Erensoi along with three other staff members, Golant, Mahmut (third secretary) and Ali Ahisk at Ivory Coast (Abidjan) on 11 April 2011," said an ISPR statement issued here on Wednesday.
Turkish ambassador was trapped in a hotel in a volatile

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, called for peace after his rival was arrested with the help of French forces, but he faces a huge task reuniting a country shattered by civil war.
Ouattara, who won a November presidential election according to UN-certified results, can finally begin asserting his authority over the West African country after his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo was captured on Monday, ending more than four months of

DAKAR/GENEVA - United Nations staff in western Ivory Coast have found more than 100 bodies in the past 24 hours, some burned alive and others thrown down a well, in a further sign of the ethnic violence gripping the country.
The grim discovery came a week after the International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 800 bodies had been found in the town of Duekoue after an explosion of inter-communal violence. United Nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on

GENEVA - UN investigators have found more than 100 bodies in the past 24 hours in western Ivory Coast in what appeared to have been ethnically driven killings, the UN human rights office said Friday.
"The human rights team investigating... in west Cote d'Ivoire found more than 100 bodies in the past 24 hours in three locations," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"All the incidents appear to have been at least partly ethnically

ABIDJAN - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara attacked Laurent Gbagbo's residence Wednesday, determined to remove him from his bunker and end his hold on power.
Gunfire erupted near Gbagbo's home and the presidential palace, witnesses said, amid a fresh assault to force him to end his decade-long rule of the world's number one cocoa producer after losing November elections. "We are going to take Laurent Gbagbo out of his hole and

PARIS - The crisis in Ivory Coast could be resolved in a matter of hours, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said on Tuesday.
"We are in a situation where everything could be resolved in the next few hours," Longuet told a news conference, after meeting with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere.

ABIDJAN - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara launched a major assault on the presidential palace on Tuesday, driving home their campaign to oust Laurent Gbagbo after U.N. and French helicopters left his military bases in flames.
In a sign his support was crumbling, Alcide Djedje, Gbagbo's foreign minister, fled to the residence of the French ambassador in Abidjan, an Ivorian source said.
Sustained machinegun and heavy weapons fire rang

ABIDJAN - France ordered more troops into Ivory Coast to protect civilians on Monday as forces backing presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara prepared a "lightning" assault to remove Laurent Gbagbo from power. As hundreds of pro-Ouattara soldiers gathered on the outskirts of Abidjan, waiting to launch what they say will be the final assault to unseat Gbagbo, explosions could be heard from the direction of the presidential palace. Gbagbo has refused to cede power after a disputed

ABIDJAN - The streets of Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan were deserted Sunday while fighting abated near bastions of strongman Laurent Gbagbo after a four-day assault by rival forces, residents and AFP journalists said.
Terrified Abidjan residents have been in lockdown since the army of internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara arrived Thursday after a lightning offensive across the country, seeking to unseat Gbagbo. In the administrative district Plateau,

ABIDJAN - Mass graves have allegedly been found in western Ivory Coast as a picture emerged Saturday of carnage amid fierce post-election battles, which the ICRC said claimed 800 lives in a single day. The government of internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara said numerous mass graves had been found, "especially in Toulepleu, Blolequin and Guiglo, whose authors are none other than the loyal forces, mercenaries and militias of Laurent Gbagbo." The accusation came after

WASHINGTON - A moderate 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake hit 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Suchiate, Chiapas state, at a depth of 54 miles (87 km), the USGS said.

ABUJA - West African leaders met in the final day of a summit on Thursday under pressure to take action over Ivory Coast amid reports that thousands more people were fleeing fighting in the crisis-ridden nation. Leaders from West African bloc ECOWAS were expected to issue a statement on the Ivory Coast crisis later in the day, after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said they may ask the United Nations to take further action. The summit comes three months after 15-nation ECOWAS

ABIDJAN - Up to 15 members of the security forces were killed in the latest gun battles between supporters of the rival claimants to the presidency of Ivory Coast, an Ivorian army source told Reuters on Wednesday. The source, a military commander, said paramilitary police loyal to the incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, were ambushed on Tuesday evening by supporters of his rival Alassane Ouattara.
"We're talking about 10 to 15 deaths, essentially gendarmes (paramilitary police) who

ADDIS ABABA - A high-level panel named by the African Union faces an uphill battle in agreeing a unified stand on Ivory Coast's political crisis and has limited new options to offer the country's two rival leaders.
Divisions were laid bare at the two-day AU summit that ended Monday, with the leaders agreeing to set up a panel made up of the presidents of Burkina Faso, Chad, South Africa, Mauritania and Tanzania to work out an exit strategy. AU commission chief Jean Ping said last