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Uneasy calm returns to Abidjan
13/11/2004 21:36 - (SA)
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A child peers through a window of a bus on the way to Abidjan airport. (Schalk van Zuydam, AP)
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Abidjan - Hundreds of frightened Europeans were still fleeing troubled Ivory Coast on Saturday as an uneasy calm returned to the West African country a week after angry mobs went on a rampage targeting foreigners.
A French military official said more than 4 100 foreign nationals had registered with the French army for evacuation from the country, the scene of riots since November 6 after the French military wiped out the Ivorian air force in retaliation for the killing of nine French soldiers in an air strike.
"In total, 4 131 have registered" at the French permanent military base near Abidjan, which has been used as a holding station for those wishing to leave Ivory Coast, Colonel Henry Aussavy said.
"Most of them are French but there are 63 nationalities represented here in total," said Aussavy.
"Abidjan is calm," said Aussavy, but added that the French soldiers would continue their patrols of the commercial capital Abidjan, to take to the safety of the French base any foreigners who want to leave.
Nearly 2 500 westerners have already left since Abidjan airport was reopened on Thursday, which had been closed for five days.
'Will remain a friendly country'
The new evacuations came as French officials, seeking to restore political dialogue, declined to blame President Laurent Gbagbo for the upsurge in violence in Ivory Coast and said they had no proof he gave orders for the aerial attack in which the French soldiers and an American civilian were killed.
"Ivory Coast is and will continue to be a friendly country," said Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
The subsequent action by France in effectively destroying Ivory Coast's tiny Belarus-supplied air force touched off an angry anti-French backlash and led to the exodus of foreigners from the west African country as pro-Gbagbo mobs ran riot in the largest city, Abidjan.
Ivory Coast has been locked in a low-level civil war since rebels launched a failed bid in September 2002 to oust Gbagbo.
A precarious calm has returned to Abidjan, but foreigners continued to flee following reports of widespread machete attacks, rapes and pillaging by the mobs - at least two women have filed complaints in French courts for rape.
Barnier said a "certain number" of women had been subjected to maltreatment - he avoided using the word rape - and that an investigation was under way to establish the extent and severity of the atrocities.
Diplomats hope that France can help international efforts to restore peace, which include a summit meeting of the African Union in Abuja, Nigeria on Sunday.
Paris hopes the summit will devise a regional solution ahead of a vote in the UN Security Council on a French-proposed resolution that would impose an arms embargo and other sanctions on Ivory Coast unless the situation improves within a month.
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