Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
However, the situation worsened the following day, prompting this
message on September 21:
In the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 19, 2002, widely dispersed gunfire erupted in
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and in Bouaké and Korhogo, the country's second and
third largest cities. An unknown number of armed men attacked national Gen-
darme and Army installations. They attacked the home of Interior Minister Emile
Boga Doudou in a residential neighborhood and the home of the Defense Min-
ister in Cocody near President Gbagbo's residence. Before mid-day, government
forces put the attackers to flight and re-established control in Abidjan.
The current situation: Government forces re-established control in Abidjan by
mid-day September 19. Patrols throughout the afternoon continued to mop up
pockets of resistance. On the morning of September 20, anti-government forces
were still in control in Bouaké and Korhogo. The Minister of Defense assured
the nation on government television the previous evening that loyal forces would
move to regain control of those two cities. In a televised interview at 11:30 a.m.
September 20, the Defense Minister said government forces would retake Bouaké
by late afternoon that same day.
The message goes on to address some of the developments of the ongo-
ing fighting and then provides additional information for resident Amer-
icans, including the status of outbound commercial airline service.
Airport: Ivorian civil aviation authorities are keeping Abidjan's Houphoet
Bougny International Airport open and the control tower manned. KLM and
Air France, the only lines offering direct service from Europe, canceled their
flights September 19, but Air France announced early in the day that on Sep-
tember 20 it would return to its regularly scheduled afternoon departure from
Paris. KLM's next scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Abidjan is September 21.
American citizens: From early on, the Embassy announced via radio and via
telephone calls throughout the country that Americans should stay in their homes
and under cover. The announcement was repeated the morning of September 20.
The Embassy: Embassy Abidjan was closed September 19 and is closed again Sep-
tember 20. There is a small core group manning the Embassy.
The next situation update was dated September 23:
Abidjan: The situation in Abidjan remains calm. Some shops have reopened for
business. The hours of curfew were reduced to run from 20:00 to 6:00 for the
entire country except for Bouaké and Korhogo, and the curfew has been extended
Search WWH ::




Custom Search