Written by: Beck

With a minor horde of French troops in the Ivory Coast now, government loyalists have convinced themselves that the French plan to depose President Gbagbo. The French claim otherwise, and in this case, I'm inclined to think they're sincere. I doubt the French are prepared to administer the country directly, so if they depose the current president, they'll be left with nothing but a handful of warring factions in an armed & angry rebellion. Total chaos. Cat and dogs living together. The details:

"[The French] presence here is scaring people. [The locals are] crying and they think that President Gbagbo is going to be overthrown," presidential spokesman Desire Tagro told the Associated Press by telephone.

The French denied surrounding the house or intending to oust Gbagbo, saying forces only were securing a temporary base at a hotel a few hundred yards away for about 1,300 foreigners who had taken refuge at a French military base.

"Everything should go back to normal," French mission commander Gen. Henri Poncet said on state TV, alongside Ivory Coast chief of army staff Gen. Matthias Doue. "It is absolutely not a matter of ousting President Laurent Gbagbo."

Rumors that the French are only trying to find a leader whose name is more pronounceable than "Gbagbo" would appear to be completely unfounded. To which I add: Pepe le Pew?