{"id":367014,"date":"2011-03-31T12:57:10","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T12:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/"},"modified":"2011-03-31T12:57:10","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T12:57:10","slug":"liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/p>\n
\n

\nNew Democrat<\/a> (Monrovia)\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

30 March 2011<\/p>\n

\n

Hundreds of Liberian “mercenaries” have gone on a rampage of rape, murder and looting in the western Ivory Coast region of Guiglo, a virtual lawless zone, the UN refugee agency says.<\/p>\n

UNHCR Spokesman Jacques Franquin told AFP on Friday the mercenaries are an opportunistic “third force” taking advantage of post-election clashes between troops loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo and those supporting internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“They are neither pro-Gbagbo nor pro-Ouattara, they are merely profiting from the situation. They loot, they rape, they kill,” said Franquin, of the UNHCR in Abidjan. “We are very concerned; the population is panicked.”<\/p>\n

“Guiglo is in a lawless zone, there is no functioning police, everyone does what they want,” Franquin noted.<\/p>\n

The west of the country, which borders Liberia, has been a hotbed of violence in the post-election dispute along with the economic capital, Abidjan.<\/p>\n

The United Nations mission (UNOCI) said on Thursday a UNHCR warehouse was looted and attacked in the region, which Franquin confirmed, saying the attack was by “militia and people speaking English, probably Liberians.”<\/p>\n

He said on Wednesday “they stole a UNHCR vehicle. We later saw them in town with a machine gun on the roof.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“A little while later another group arrived, they stole a 4×4, a broken pick-up and two motorbikes.<\/p>\n

“That night, it was fireworks. They emptied out a UNHCR office, carrying out furniture, computers and more than 12 motorbikes. They loaded everything onto a truck.<\/p>\n

“There are about 20,000 displaced in Duekoue and tens of thousands in Guiglo. Meanwhile, between 500 and 1,000 people gathered in front of the UNOCI base to seek protection,” Franquin said.<\/p>\n

He complained that it had become “nearly impossible” to work in the region. The UN human rights office said on Friday it was looking into unconfirmed allegations that about 200 west African nationals, including people from Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Togo, have been killed in the west around the town of Guiglo, where thousands of people fled fighting between troops loyal to the rival presidents this week.<\/p>\n

Guiglo and Duekoue are key crossroads leading east to the political capital Yamassoukro and south to San Pedro, the world’s biggest cocoa exporting port.<\/p>\n

Many Liberian mercenaries took part in the Ivorian conflict, on both sides, in 2002. Liberian militias sent by then president Charles Taylor backed rebels trying to oust Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, who armed the anti-Taylor movement MODEL.<\/p>\n

Up to 100,000 Ivorians have fled the violence into Liberia, raising fears it could spill over into the neighbouring country which itself emerged in 2003 from 14 years of civil conflict that cost 250,000 lives.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nMore News on allAfrica.com<\/b><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n

AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Taken from:
\nLiberian Mercenaries On Rampage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Democrat (Monrovia) 30 March 2011 Hundreds of Liberian “mercenaries” have gone on a rampage of rape, murder and looting in the western Ivory Coast region of Guiglo, a virtual lawless zone, the UN refugee agency says. UNHCR Spokesman Jacques Franquin told AFP on Friday the mercenaries are an opportunistic “third force” taking advantage of post-election clashes between troops loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo and those supporting internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"New Democrat (Monrovia) 30 March 2011 Hundreds of Liberian "mercenaries" have gone on a rampage of rape, murder and looting in the western Ivory Coast region of Guiglo, a virtual lawless zone, the UN refugee agency says. UNHCR Spokesman Jacques Franquin told AFP on Friday the mercenaries are an opportunistic "third force" taking advantage of post-election clashes between troops loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo and those supporting internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-31T12:57:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\"},\"wordCount\":451,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\",\"name\":\"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-31T12:57:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"New Democrat (Monrovia) 30 March 2011 Hundreds of Liberian \"mercenaries\" have gone on a rampage of rape, murder and looting in the western Ivory Coast region of Guiglo, a virtual lawless zone, the UN refugee agency says. UNHCR Spokesman Jacques Franquin told AFP on Friday the mercenaries are an opportunistic \"third force\" taking advantage of post-election clashes between troops loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo and those supporting internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage","datePublished":"2011-03-31T12:57:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/"},"wordCount":451,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/","name":"Liberian Mercenaries On Rampage - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-31T12:57:10+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/liberian-mercenaries-on-rampage\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}