[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 74 (Thursday, May 26, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S3406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             COTE D'IVOIRE

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I know I have a couple more. I would like 
to cover one last topic because something is about to happen in the 
next week. Some people are going to be killed. It has nothing to do 
with Israel; nothing to do with the subject here. It is very serious.
  You might recall six different times on the floor of the Senate I 
have talked about the problems that are taking place in a country in 
West Africa called Cote d'Ivoire. The fact is we had a President--his 
name is Laurent Gbagbo--with his wife Simone. They were ruling when an 
election came along. It was stolen from him by a man named Alassane 
Ouattara. He is in the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire.
  What I have tried to show--I explained well before this all happened, 
before we got involved, that France and the United Nations and now our 
State Department are joining in with them. This picture was in 
yesterday's paper. This is one of Ouattara's death squads that are 
killing people in Abidjan, which is the capital.
  I show this picture. It is one that shows this is still happening 
today. Reprisal attacks are still being committed by forces loyal to 
Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast 6 weeks after he came to power vowing 
peace and reconciliation.
  It also said that Alassane Quattara, championed by the French and the 
United Nations during a deadly post-election conflict, has failed to 
condemn atrocities against real or perceived supporters of ousted 
President Laurent Gbagbo.
  Those are the death squads of Ouattara. This is a picture of them. 
You can identify them. They are in there killing people. We don't know 
how many tens of thousands of people have been murdered in cold blood. 
Amnesty International came out the other day and criticized the U.N. 
mission for ignoring pleas for help and failing to prevent the massacre 
in the town of Duekoue. That is the town of Duekoue. See the charred 
bodies. People are saying they actually had hogs eating the bodies. 
This is what Ouattara did in a little town called Duekoue.
  I have another picture of what is happening. It is really criminal. 
These are all of Ouattara's people. These are the ones our State 
Department supported, and it is serious. Amnesty reports that a manhunt 
was launched against Gbagbo loyalists in Abidjan, and several senior 
officials close to him were beaten in the hours after his arrest.
  This is a picture of the Secretary of the Interior. We had a hearing 
the other day, and our State Department tried to say Ouattara is hiring 
a lot of the people from the Cabinet of Laurent Gbagbo. There is the 
Secretary of the Interior. They shot him in the face so it would take a 
long time to painfully die. He died.
  Here is another member of the Cabinet being executed. This is what is 
going on. Nobody cares. Anyway, I care.
  What we are looking at right now is the Ouattaras publicly.
  There is a way out of this right now. What has happened is Ouattara 
is trying to figure out a way to kill the President and the First Lady. 
I will wind up by letting you know and seeing firsthand what we are 
talking about.
  President Gbagbo is someone I have known quite well. He is a jovial 
guy. This is a picture as I remember him. I spent a lot of time with 
him. This is right after his arrest. He was beaten almost to death. We 
see what has happened to his face.
  His wife is a beautiful lady, Simone Gbagbo. I have been with her 
many times. She is a beautiful lady. She is the First Lady. I first 
knew her 15 years ago when she was a member of Parliament before they 
were married. There she is. You will not find a more beautiful lady 
than that. There she is, after they ravaged their home--Ouattara and 
the United Nations in agreement with our State Department. This is what 
she looked like the next day. They went in and grabbed her by the hair 
and pulled her hair out. You can see other things happened to her.
  I hesitate to put up the last photo, but this one you have to put 
your imagination to work. It takes a lot of imagination to see what is 
happening. There she is, the beautiful First Lady. You can imagine what 
happened with all of Ouattara's people around here.
  What is the answer? All we have to do is encourage the State 
Department to take a different stand and say: Let's take the Gbagbos--
the President and the First Lady--and allow them to have asylum. I 
already located a country in Sub-Saharan Africa willing to host them. 
That is all that needs to happen.
  By the time we get back 9 days from now after this recess, both of 
them will be dead if we do not do something. As we speak right now, 
they are being tortured.
  There we have it. We have an opportunity to do something. We can save 
not only these people but save those around them who have always loved 
peace in Cote d'Ivoire.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Begich). The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, first, I thank my colleague from Oklahoma. 
He and I share a passion and interest in the continent of Africa. He 
has traveled there many more times than I have. We have talked about 
the situation on that continent. I give special accolades to him for 
continuing to raise questions relative to that continent and the people 
who live there. It is an important part of the world, and for far too 
long it has been exploited.
  I am glad, on a bipartisan basis, we both believe the United States 
should focus more attention on that important continent. I thank the 
Senator.

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