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French Army to Pull Back in Abidjan-Ivorian Army

Sun Nov 21, 5:26 PM ET

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - French soldiers deployed in Ivory Coast to help evacuate expatriates from violent mob rioting will start pulling back from some positions in the main city Abidjan this week, the Ivorian army said on Sunday.

 

"These movements, whose itinerary and date were agreed with the (Ivorian) army chief of staff, aim to let French forces return to their various positions from before the crisis," Ivorian army spokesman Jules Yao Yao said on state television.

French forces took up positions around Abidjan's main airport and other key points in the commercial capital two weeks ago to help evacuate more than 8,000 foreigners fleeing unrest in the world's top cocoa grower.

Some of the French soldiers came from peacekeeping duties elsewhere in the West African country, which has been split in two since rebels took control of the north after failing to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002.

Yao Yao said the French would start pulling back from Abidjan's civilian airport on Tuesday and from a city-center hotel, used as an evacuation center for foreigners during the rioting, on Saturday.

Colonel Henry Aussavy, spokesman for around 5,000 French soldiers in Ivory Coast, said discussions about redeployment were underway but said he did not yet have any details.

Ivory Coast plunged into crisis just over two weeks ago when government forces bombed the rebel-held north, shattering an 18-month cease-fire and raising fears of a full-blown civil war.

Former colonial power France wiped out most of the Ivorian air force after the bombing campaign killed nine French troops, prompting days of violent mob riots targeting foreign homes and businesses in Abidjan.

Normality has started to return since the violence ended, although French soldiers still patrol some residential neighborhoods popular with expatriates, and roadblocks manned by militant Gbagbo supporters dot parts of the city.


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