US opens large embassy on Ivory Coast

[UrbScotty]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ivory-coast-us-embassy,0,3899372.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

The United States opened its largest embassy in West Africa in an Abidjan residential area Tuesday, replacing one that had been in the crowded center of the commercial capital.

The 235,000 square-foot facility cost more than $90 million and took three years to complete, the embassy said.

"This magnificent new building is a symbol of American values and of the commitment of the United Sates of America to the future of Ivory Coast," U.S. Ambassador Hooks told the 650 people who attended the inauguration ceremony in the residential Riviera district in Abidjan.

Ivory Coast plunged into turmoil after a failed September 2002 coup that left this once-stable West African nation divided between a rebel-held north and a loyalist south.

[denverbill]

1. I smell oil. Anyone else? n/t

[FlemingsGhost]

4. "Big time!"

Sweeeeeeeeet Sweeeeeeeeet cruuuude ...

[billyoc]

2. A fledgling populist gov't somewhere

has just been marked for death. :scared:

[MasonJar]

3. My first thought: oil.