Rape Used as Political Weapon in Ivory Coast

Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights

The United Nations is reporting that rape and sexual torture is spreading across Ivory Coast as the nation teeters on the brink of a civil war over a disputed presidential election.

A local U.N. human rights representative said that 23 women were raped in just the last week in the western part of the country. Ethnic and political tensions are blamed for the sex attacks which have caused thousands of people to flee across the border to Liberia because of the November 28 election.

Though promising to respect the election results, President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to leave office even though every credible domestic and international election observing organization has said he lost fair and square to rival Alassane Ouattara.

The U.N. report said a young male Ouattara supporter was sodomized by eight members of the national police.

Gbagbo has denied the accusations -- as if he can be trusted.

Is there any more evidence needed for the world to step in and force Gbagbo from office?

People have been getting shot and killed. Now men and women are getting raped. All because a tyrant can't give up his grip on power.

The country officials are currently under an international travel ban but it is clearly time for African nations to join the U.N. to help clean up the mess in Ivory Coast.

The West African group of countries called ECOWAS is making noises about forcibly removing Gbagbo from office but hasn't moved beyond that.

How much longer will the world sit by and watch Ivory Coast, once the jewel of the continent, fall into disrepair?

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