I Coast to take France to ICJ
2004-11-28 21:43
Brussels - Ivory Coast will take France to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest legal body, for violating defence accords between the two countries, a lawyer told AFP on Sunday.
"A complaint lodged by the state of Ivory Coast against the French state ... is the next logical step in this crisis," said Patricia Hamza, a lawyer working with an Ivory Coast presidential mission in Brussels.
She said the suit would be lodged with the ICJ in The Hague on Monday.
France destroyed the small Ivorian air force early this month after government forces killed nine French peacekeepers and a US aid worker in an airstrike.
The French retaliation unleashed a torrent of anti-foreigner violence and vandalism and prompted the exodus of more than half of the 14 000-strong French expatriate population from Ivory Coast.
Paris has since sent in troop reinforcements and evacuated thousands of its nationals.
- AFP