I Coast's air force flies again
2005-01-24 21:24
Abidjan - Ivory Coast's air force took to the skies again at the weekend following UN permission to repair aircraft wrecked in November by French forces after they killed French peacekeepers, witnesses and UN officials said on Monday.
A spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in the divided country, known as ONUCI, said a Russian-built Mi-24 helicopter gunship had made several test flights over the political capital of Yamoussoukro on Saturday and Sunday, after UN officials had verified that it was not armed.
Witnesses contacted by telephone from Abidjan said the helicopter flew over several times at low altitude, and was greeted with enthusiasm by residents of the city.
A British Aerospace strikemaster ground-attack aircraft also took off from Yamoussoukro on both days, ONUCI said.
The UN and the parallel French peacekeeping contingent gave permission on Saturday for the government of Ivory Coast to repair its air force, which was knocked out by French troops in November.
"It involves restoring them to flying condition, repairing the damaged planes, not rearming them," ONUCI spokesperson Hamadoun Toure told AFP.
Four Russian-built Sukhoi-25 fighter-bombers and a number of helicopters were destroyed on the ground by French forces on November 6, hours after air attacks killed nine French peacekeepers and a US aid worker.
The attacks came when President Laurent Gbagbo's government suddenly broke an 18-month truce with rebels holding the northern half of the country.
The French reprisals at the airports of Abidjan and Yamoussoukro were followed by massive anti-French demonstrations, forcing about 8 000 French and other Western civilians living in Ivory Coast to flee.
On November 15 the UN security council imposed an arms embargo on both sides in the conflict in the world's top cocoa-producer.