COTE D'IVOIRE: The north unplugged DAKAR, 2 March 2011 ( IRIN) - In northern Côte d’Ivoire vaccines are going bad, taps are dry and the families of women in labour are ferrying buckets of water to hospital, three days after the government of Laurent Gbagbo ordered power cut in the region.

Electricity went out on the morning of 28 February in the territory held by the rebel Forces Nouvelles (FN) and remained off the evening of 2 March.

Officials of Gbagbo’s government, accompanied by armed men, went to the electricity distribution centre in the commercial capital Abidjan on 28 February and cut power off to the centre, north and west regions under FN control, “even though there appeared no need to do so and the grid is sound”, according to the utility operator Compagnie Ivoirienne d’ Electricité (CIE). CIE “disclaims all responsibility for this power cut and the consequences and damages that could result”, a 2 March communiqué said.


The same region saw a power outage of about three weeks during the height of fighting in 2003. A Gbagbo government spokesperson acknowledged electricity has been cut but said the outages are strictly for technical reasons. “These are technical problems and rationing problems that have nothing to do with politics,” Ahoua Don Mello told IRIN. “We have to ration today because we’re under embargo - some technical material is missing and we can’t ship it in, The conditions we are seeing today occur when we’re forced to ration electricity, petrol and gas. Certain zones have to be prioritised, that’s understandable.” The cuts have crippled hospitals and forced people to turn to unsafe water sources, residents and health workers told IRIN. “Two premature babies died yesterday [1 March]; the incubators are not working,” Kouyaté Karim, departmental health director in the centre- north city of Bouaké, told IRIN. “It’s quite worrying for patients who depended on electronic equipment in hospital.” He said the hospital has a generator but not enough money to keep

i dont see any mischievous idea in the write up

@ OP, this is not a "mischievous" idea, it's a wrong idea.

Or did you not read the part where two premature babies died?

Abagworo take your time oh