Nickdfresh
11-07-2004, 04:23 PM
France boosts Ivory Coast force
Government offers cease-fire after violent clashes
Sunday, November 7, 2004 Posted: 3:00 PM EST (2000 GMT)
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- France was flying in hundreds of extra soldiers to Ivory Coast and the West African nation said it was pulling back its troops following the worst violence seen between France and its former colony in decades.
The French military said it sent 300 soldiers to Ivory Coast early Sunday from the West African nation of Gabon, where three newly scrambled Mirage fighter jets were on standby.
On Saturday, nine French soldiers and a U.S. citizen were killed and 23 people were wounded when government warplanes bombed a French position in the north.
The government said the bombing was unintended, but the French retaliated by destroying what it said was the entire Ivory Coast air force -- five helicopter gunships and the two Russian-made Sukhoi warplanes used in the bombing.
On Sunday, the first French reinforcements landed at Abidjan's international airport, which French forces took late Saturday after destroying the aircraft.
Another 300 soldiers and a squadron of gendarmes were leaving for Ivory Coast from France later in the day, Reuters quoted the defense ministry as saying.
Still more reinforcements appeared headed toward Abidjan from the capital Yamoussoukro. A photographer for The Associated Press reported seeing 20 heavy vehicles carrying French troops toward Abidjan.
In the face of the French buildup, Ivory Coast officials offered a cease-fire and said government troops would withdraw from the front lines.
Presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said troops would end their offensive on rebel territory and pull back into the peacekeeper-manned buffer zone between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south, AP reported.
John Victor Nkolo with the U.N. Operation in Ivory Coast said the Ivorian National Army was "asking troops not only to withdraw from the frontlines (in the north), but to report to Abidjan to help establish law and order."
"This is a positive development," Nkolo told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," although he added, "We may not be out of the woods yet."
"Let us cease fire," National Assembly president Mamadou Koulibaly told state television, offering to return to a truce broken by Ivory Coast's resumption of attacks Thursday.
Col. Philippe Mangou, commander of Ivory Coast's ground offensive, told soldiers in the capital to withdraw.
"It is with death in my soul, with many regrets and with tears in my eyes that I ask you to pull back from your positions because unfortunately we have lost our air power," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Machete-waving mobs
Saturday's bombing and retaliation sparked battles between government supporters and French forces in Abidjan, the commercial capital on the southern coast.
Thousands of angry government supporters, some waving machetes, looted and burned Abidjan on Sunday, laying to a French military base and searching houses for French families, AP reported.
About 100 people were stranded at the airport, and smoke billowed from the suburb of Cocody after an attack on a French school.
Government loyalists were stationed at roadblocks in the city, attacking cars holding suspected foreigners.
Numerous French families contacted French authorities in Ivory Coast overnight, saying their homes were being attacked and looted, AP quoted French military spokesman Henry Aussavy as saying.
Aussavy said French forces were battling to hold back the mobs, dropping percussion grenades on mobs massing at bridges, the international airport and the military base in Abidjan.
French troops also fired tear gas and warning shots from a helicopter to disperse the mobs, Reuters said.
A French military helicopter swept in Sunday afternoon to rescue trapped civilians from an Abidjan hotel, airlifting about a dozen to safety with their suitcases.
About 150 people were wounded in Abidjan, most from bullets, AP quoted a Red Cross official as saying.
Foreigners were advised to stay indoors, and the United States on Sunday warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Ivory Coast because of the violence.
'All necessary means'
France and the United Nations have demanded that Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo restore order.
Meeting in emergency session Saturday, the U.N. Security Council condemned the initial attack on French forces and called for the "immediate cessation" of military operations in accordance with a May cease-fire agreement.
The council authorized French and other peacekeepers to use "all necessary means" to stop the fighting.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Danforth said the council understands that "France is clearly going to defend French troops and French citizens that are under attack."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan phoned Gbagbo twice to urge him to end the violence, Reuters reported.
The violence came on the same day the African Union condemned air strikes by Ivory Coast government forces on former rebel targets in the north and center of the country.
However, Ivory Coast said it would ask the U.N. Security Council to take action against France.
Presidential spokesman Tagro told state television: "We are faced with aggression by one country against another country. We are going to inform the entire world ... that France has come to attack us."
France said Sunday it sent troops to Ivory Coast to ensure security, not destabilize the country.
"That is all that this is about, ensuring security. Security, not destabilization," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in a statement.
"In no way is France there to destabilize the Ivory Coast and its institutions or take sides. Its aim above all is to preserve constitutional legality. There is no hidden agenda," he added.
Ivory Coast has been split between the loyalist south and rebel-held north since an attempted coup in September 2002 triggered a civil war. The nation gained its independence from France in 1960.
A total of 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French soldiers have been trying to keep the peace in the buffer zone between north and south.
CNN's Jeff Koinange contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Government offers cease-fire after violent clashes
Sunday, November 7, 2004 Posted: 3:00 PM EST (2000 GMT)
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- France was flying in hundreds of extra soldiers to Ivory Coast and the West African nation said it was pulling back its troops following the worst violence seen between France and its former colony in decades.
The French military said it sent 300 soldiers to Ivory Coast early Sunday from the West African nation of Gabon, where three newly scrambled Mirage fighter jets were on standby.
On Saturday, nine French soldiers and a U.S. citizen were killed and 23 people were wounded when government warplanes bombed a French position in the north.
The government said the bombing was unintended, but the French retaliated by destroying what it said was the entire Ivory Coast air force -- five helicopter gunships and the two Russian-made Sukhoi warplanes used in the bombing.
On Sunday, the first French reinforcements landed at Abidjan's international airport, which French forces took late Saturday after destroying the aircraft.
Another 300 soldiers and a squadron of gendarmes were leaving for Ivory Coast from France later in the day, Reuters quoted the defense ministry as saying.
Still more reinforcements appeared headed toward Abidjan from the capital Yamoussoukro. A photographer for The Associated Press reported seeing 20 heavy vehicles carrying French troops toward Abidjan.
In the face of the French buildup, Ivory Coast officials offered a cease-fire and said government troops would withdraw from the front lines.
Presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said troops would end their offensive on rebel territory and pull back into the peacekeeper-manned buffer zone between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south, AP reported.
John Victor Nkolo with the U.N. Operation in Ivory Coast said the Ivorian National Army was "asking troops not only to withdraw from the frontlines (in the north), but to report to Abidjan to help establish law and order."
"This is a positive development," Nkolo told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," although he added, "We may not be out of the woods yet."
"Let us cease fire," National Assembly president Mamadou Koulibaly told state television, offering to return to a truce broken by Ivory Coast's resumption of attacks Thursday.
Col. Philippe Mangou, commander of Ivory Coast's ground offensive, told soldiers in the capital to withdraw.
"It is with death in my soul, with many regrets and with tears in my eyes that I ask you to pull back from your positions because unfortunately we have lost our air power," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Machete-waving mobs
Saturday's bombing and retaliation sparked battles between government supporters and French forces in Abidjan, the commercial capital on the southern coast.
Thousands of angry government supporters, some waving machetes, looted and burned Abidjan on Sunday, laying to a French military base and searching houses for French families, AP reported.
About 100 people were stranded at the airport, and smoke billowed from the suburb of Cocody after an attack on a French school.
Government loyalists were stationed at roadblocks in the city, attacking cars holding suspected foreigners.
Numerous French families contacted French authorities in Ivory Coast overnight, saying their homes were being attacked and looted, AP quoted French military spokesman Henry Aussavy as saying.
Aussavy said French forces were battling to hold back the mobs, dropping percussion grenades on mobs massing at bridges, the international airport and the military base in Abidjan.
French troops also fired tear gas and warning shots from a helicopter to disperse the mobs, Reuters said.
A French military helicopter swept in Sunday afternoon to rescue trapped civilians from an Abidjan hotel, airlifting about a dozen to safety with their suitcases.
About 150 people were wounded in Abidjan, most from bullets, AP quoted a Red Cross official as saying.
Foreigners were advised to stay indoors, and the United States on Sunday warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Ivory Coast because of the violence.
'All necessary means'
France and the United Nations have demanded that Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo restore order.
Meeting in emergency session Saturday, the U.N. Security Council condemned the initial attack on French forces and called for the "immediate cessation" of military operations in accordance with a May cease-fire agreement.
The council authorized French and other peacekeepers to use "all necessary means" to stop the fighting.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Danforth said the council understands that "France is clearly going to defend French troops and French citizens that are under attack."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan phoned Gbagbo twice to urge him to end the violence, Reuters reported.
The violence came on the same day the African Union condemned air strikes by Ivory Coast government forces on former rebel targets in the north and center of the country.
However, Ivory Coast said it would ask the U.N. Security Council to take action against France.
Presidential spokesman Tagro told state television: "We are faced with aggression by one country against another country. We are going to inform the entire world ... that France has come to attack us."
France said Sunday it sent troops to Ivory Coast to ensure security, not destabilize the country.
"That is all that this is about, ensuring security. Security, not destabilization," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in a statement.
"In no way is France there to destabilize the Ivory Coast and its institutions or take sides. Its aim above all is to preserve constitutional legality. There is no hidden agenda," he added.
Ivory Coast has been split between the loyalist south and rebel-held north since an attempted coup in September 2002 triggered a civil war. The nation gained its independence from France in 1960.
A total of 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French soldiers have been trying to keep the peace in the buffer zone between north and south.
CNN's Jeff Koinange contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.