CONGRESSWOMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE DENOUNCES VICIOUS ETHNIC SLAYINGS IN IVORY COAST
“More than 100 bodies have been found in western Ivory Coast, the United Nations has said, amid the continuing conflict between rivals for the presidency and I am outraged, stated Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.”
April 8, 2011
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation Security, released the following statement denouncing the ethnic slayings in the African nation of Ivory Coast.
“We must call for an immediate increase of UN Peacekeepers to be deployed in Ivory Coast along with the constructive involvement of the African Union to help bring an end to this terrible state of national unrest that is costing innocent men, women and children to lose their lives at an astoundingly high rate. We must press the international community of peace loving nations to weigh-in on this matter and join us in calling for an immediate cease-fire and restoration of stability in this war ravaged nation” commented Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ivory Coast (also known as Cote d’ Ivoire) has experienced a pattern of violent ethnic slayings of innocent people who have been caught in the crossfire of an apparent battle between internationally recognized Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and rival incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who is blockaded in a bunker in Abidjan. On April 7, 2011, a team of UN Human Rights workers reported finding more than 100 victims of apparent ethnic killings in western Ivory Coast. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that all the slayings appear to be ethnically motivated.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee expressed her profound dismay over the continued senseless and brutal slayings and the fact that innocent people continued to be needlessly slaughtered in the ensuing violence in Ivory Coast. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee further commented that “The people of Ivory Coast deserve the chance to live in a humane and peaceful society ruled by a stable government; a place where they can raise and educate their children to become productive citizens of the world.” Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee expressed her firm belief that the world community cannot afford to sit idly by and witness the slaughter of innocents.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee declared, “The world is watching and we cannot afford to be silent when so many lives and the most basic of international human rights are at stake. I am calling for increased international involvement to end this tragic state of affairs, I am reminded of the timeless and profound words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who proclaimed that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’”