More French troops to I Coast

2004-11-07 13:11

Abidjan - France was set on Sunday to send fresh troops to Ivory Coast after a night of fighting in which French peacekeepers clashed with thousands of demonstrators seeking to "retake" Abidjan airport, leaving at least three dead.

The clash came after nine French troops and an American civilian were killed in an air raid Saturday by Ivory Coast warplanes in the central Ivorian city of Bouake, according to French officials.

The Security Council, which held an emergency meeting at France's request, condemned the attack on French forces and voiced support for French and UN forces in the former French colony.

Overnight Saturday, tens of thousands of young supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo marched on Abidjan airport, controlled by French forces since Saturday afternoon, and French helicopters fired warning shots to head them off.

Faced with an immense human tide, the French armed forces used 20mm cannon near the Houphouet-Boigny and Charles de Gaulle bridges linking the working-class and business districts with the airport.

State radio said three demonstrators were killed, while parliament speaker Mamadou Coulibaly told French public radio France Inter that 30 were shot dead.

A French defence ministry spokesperson immediately denied the claim, while witnesses said they had seen "inert bodies" on a bridge.

Coulibaly accused France of "occupying" his country and slammed French President Jacques Chirac, accusing him of having armed the rebels who control the north of the west African country, the world's top cocoa producer.

French forces had wiped out Ivory Coast's military aircraft Saturday in retaliation for the killing of the nine soldiers, as anti-French feeling reached boiling point.

Chirac ordered the destruction of all Ivory Coast planes involved in ceasefire violations in the country, divided since a failed coup two years ago.

Blew up warplanes

The French blew up two warplanes on the ground and destroyed at least three army helicopters later on Saturday, a French army spokesperson said.

France has had troops stationed in Ivory Coast since last year after helping to mediate a peace agreement following the breakout of a civil war in 2002, but the implementation of the pact has been fitful and Ivory Coast has remained divided.

Saturday's unrest lasted into the early morning hours of Sunday, during which some looting of Westerners' homes took place, according to witnesses.

France was set to ask the Security Council to adopt "new measures" including an arms embargo against Ivory Coast.

In a statement unanimously adopted by an emergency session requested by France, the Security Council said on Saturday it "condemns the attack against French forces in Bouake ... as well as the fatal air strikes in the north by the national armed forces of Cote d'Ivoire, as violations" of a May 2003 ceasefire.

France also ordered 300 more troops to Ivory Coast to buttress its 4 000-member peacekeeping force. Another 6 000 UN peacekeepers are present in the country.

Violence against French targets has been on the rise, notably in the economic capital Abidjan.

Young Gbagbo supporters have repeatedly accused the French peacekeepers of siding with the rebel New Forces. Four French schools have been sacked or destroyed.

- AFP