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France, under attack in Ivory Coast, mobilizes reinforcements
ABIDJAN - French forces wiped out Ivory Coast's military aircraft that were sitting on the ground Saturday in retaliation for the killing of nine of its soldiers stationed here, and sent in reinforcements as anti-French feeling reached boiling point in the west African former French colony.
Time for the FFL.
At the same time, France called on President Laurent Gbagbo to find a political solution to the current tension in Ivory Coast, the worst since a force was placed between the government army and rebels.

The Security Council, meeting at France's request, condemned the attack on French forces and voiced support for French and UN forces in the country.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
France will ask the Security Council for an arms embargo on Ivory Coast, French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
Ivory Coast warplanes had earlier executed a devastating raid on a French army camp killing the nine men plus a US national and wounding about 30 other soldiers. French President Jacques Chirac thereupon ordered the destruction of all Ivory Coast planes involved in ceasefire violations in the country, divided since a failed coup two years ago. The French blew up two warplanes on the ground and later destroyed at least three army helicopters by later Saturday, a French army spokesman said.

Resentment against France boiled up in Abidjan, where youths chanting anti-French slogans rolled their eyes looted and made faces torched four French schools. Tens of thousands of young supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo marched on Abidjan airport, where a company of French infantry was stationed, 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 on the lagoon, which link the working-class and business districts with the airport.

Witnesses said the crowd was halted, but it was still large at 2 am (0200 GMT) while sporadic firing continued.

There was no immediate information about victims, but witnesses said they had seen bodies on the De Gaulle bridge. An hour-long clash had earlier occurred at the airport between French and Ivorian troops.

Ivorian forces closed the airport on Saturday afternoon and evacuated staff, sealing off the perimeter and closing it to air traffic, airport sources said.

A diplomatic source said Gbagbo had met for an hour with the ambassadors of France and the United States, Gildas Le Lidec and Aubrey Hooks.

The attack by Russian-built Sukhoi fighter-bombers which dropped a 500 pound bomb was the most serious against French military personnel in operations since one in Lebanon in 1983 killing 58 personnel. A French military spokesman ruled out the possibility of error by Ivory Coast aircrew.

France called upon the UN Security Council for support to modify the rules of engagement of UN and French peacekeepers currently in Ivory Coast. Essentially these are allowed to use force only in legitimate self-defence.
That will be effective as anything the UN ever does.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said France had destroyed the Ivorian aircraft as an act of legitimate self-defence. French military sources told AFP that in addition to the Sukhoi fighter-bombers a total of five helicopters were also targeted. This is just about all of the military aircraft the Ivorian government forces possess.

France also ordered 300 more troops to Ivory Coast to buttress its 4,000-member peacekeeping force. It also scrambled three Mirage fighter jets from Chad to Libreville in Gabon.

Chirac called President Gbagbo after the attack "to warn him against any act liable to break the ceasefire" between the government and rebel New Forces holding the north of the country, presidency officials said.

The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the attack on the French peace-keepers was "inadmissable," and warned Gbagbo he was responsible for the safety of all foreigners in the country, including the 14,000 French nationals. The future of the Ivory Coast's relationship with the EU depended on it, he said.
The EU is almost as effective as the UN.
In attacks apparently ordered by Gbagbo, government jets Thursday began pounding northern communities under the control of the New Forces since September 2002 when an insurrection erupted in the wake of a failed military coup.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-11-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=48026