@fatboy

The "crushing response" or "excessive reaction " thing is nonsense.

1.France was mandated to enforce the cease-fire, so destroying the tools ( the "airforce") by which it was violated makes perfect sense. Nowhere did I read that this action was a retaliation of any kind.

2.Having just violated the cease-fire which he had signed, launched a hate campaign through the official radio aimed at foreigners in general and the french in particular (which btw included calls to murder and rape), and having succeeded at starting riots (which the french forces had spent weeks to suppress upon their arrival in the country), President Gbagbo's word has lost all credibility to me. Why you would consider his ambassador's comments worth hearing is beyond me.