France Ousts Gbagbo (Ivory Coast) From Power

In case you have not been paying attention to politics in the Ivory Coast, the oversimplified story is as follows; Gbagbo (a Christian) was the president, he lost to Ouattara (a Muslim) in the last election, but has refused to relinquish power using the excuse that he fear that Muslims would massacre the Christians.

Obama made a speech supporting Ouattara, last month.

Video embedded below.



Gbagbo refused to step down. The French went in and removed Gbagbo by force. Just to recap; the US made an unheeded speech, and the French took action. Once again the French are taking the lead while the United States sits on the sideline.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73A01F20110411

"Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo was arrested on Monday after French armoured vehicles closed in on the compound where the self-proclaimed president had been holed up in a bunker.

A column of more than 30 French armoured vehicles moved in on Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan after helicopter gunships attacked the compound overnight in bid to end a months-long political standoff that had descended into civil war.

Gbagbo refused to step down when Alassane Ouattara won last November's presidential election, according to results certified by the United Nations, reigniting a civil war that has claimed more than a thousand lives and uprooted a million people.

"Yes, he has been arrested," Affoussy Bamba, a spokeswoman for Ouattara, told Reuters.

Gbagbo's spokesman in Ivory Coast, Ahoua Don Mello, told Reuters: "President Laurent Gbagbo came out of his bunker and surrendered to the French without offering resistance."

French officials said Gbagbo had been arrested by Ouattara's forces backed by the United Nations and the French military."

Without debating which side was right here, would it have been conceivable before Obama took power that the United States would be playing such a passive role in world affairs?