What’s with France in the Ivory Coast? And where’s the international uproar?

I wonder if the BBC sees the irony in this: “The French troops now have orders to shoot at anybody stopping them from enforcing a fragile ceasefire”.

The Guardian actually seems quite understanding: “Nearly 2,000 French troops are in Ivory Coast to enforce an often-violated cease-fire between the northern rebels and the government, and to protect French citizens and other foreign nationals.
But the French have been increasingly dragged into the fighting, especially in the West, where they are effectively blocking any rebel advance south”.

I have no idea what’s going on over there, and I have to be truthful and say that I couldn’t really care. We’ve got enough on our plate. But it does seem terrible hypocrisy to me that there is not one word of criticism anywhere. Am I getting this all wrong or is this not a blatant case of an ex-colonizing power looking out for its economic interests by interfering militarily?

We all know what the op-eds the world over would be screaming if it were the U.S.