Jabou, I expected the US to react expeditiously to the military events of the last week and they did by sending in 200 Special Forces troops to evacuate American missionaries from Bouake and other cities. French reenforcement troops arrived yesterday to protect and evacuate their citizens numbering around 20,000. At Bouake, there are also other institutions were an appreciable number of foreigners work. There is an International school which attracts students from outside CI. West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) which was headquatered in Liberia only to be orphaned by the seemingly never ending war is now located in Bouake. At least there is one Gambian staff at WARDA. And, of course, there is the numer ous missionary outposts of various demoninations and nationalities in the area. The situation is extremely volatile with potentially catastrophic dimensions Sidi Sanneh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~