"If I get the French, I can eat them"
This is what I'm talkin' 'bout!
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Mbeki seeks to calm Ivorian storm
South African President Thabo Mbeki is in Ivory Coast to try to restore calm after two days of violence.
Foreigners have been targeted amid confrontations involving thousands of supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo.
Joint patrols have begun in the commercial centre Abidjan with Ivorian and French troops and peacekeepers from other countries within the UN force.
Meanwhile France has denied it wants to overthrow Mr Gbagbo, and that its troops shot dead 15 demonstrators.
Quote:
If I get the French, I can eat them
Gbagbo supporter
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On Saturday, French troops destroyed the small Ivorian air force in retaliation for a government air strike that killed nine French soldiers.
The incidents sparked a wave of anti-French violence that continued into Monday. The Red Cross said more than 600 people were hurt.
In other developments:
National Reconciliation Minister Sebastien Dano accuses French troops of having killed 50 demonstrators, reports Reuters news agency. There is no independent confirmation of this figure
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie says an attack which killed nine French troops was deliberate and carried out by Belarusian mercenaries
The UN Security Council considers a French-backed draft resolution for an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze against those violating human rights and obstructing peace and disarmament
France says it has no plans to evacuate its 14,000 nationals currently in the country
Aid agencies appeal to the government to restore electricity and water supplies to rebel-held areas
Cocoa exports are halted from Ivory Coast, which is the world's largest producer. Clashes and a curfew are reported in the major cocoa town of Gagnoa
More than 1,000 Ivorians flee to Liberia as a result of the violence, the UNHCR says.
Stand-off
Mr Mbeki arrived from Pretoria shortly after 1000 GMT on Tuesday with Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad.
He is expected to meet Mr Gbagbo, though it is not clear whether he will meet other political leaders or how long he will stay.
He has been asked by the African Union to search for a political solution to the crisis, and held talks with African leaders on Monday.
Joint patrols started in Abidjan at 2000 on Monday in an attempt to re-assure and control the population.
Reuters reported that city residents have been venturing into the streets to see whether the calm would hold.
PEACE UNRAVELS
29 Sept: Parliament fails to meet deadline for political reforms promised to rebels
15 Oct: Rebels ignore deadline for disarmament
28 Oct: Rebels withdraw ministers from unity government
4 Nov: Government aircraft begin daily air strikes on rebel-held territory in north
6 Nov: An air strike leaves nine French soldiers dead; France responds by destroying Ivorian planes
7 Nov: Thousands of Gbagbo supporters demonstrate against the French in Abidjan; UN condemns Ivorian attacks
Large crowds of President Gbagbo's supporters have gathered near the presidential residence to provide what national radio has called a "human shield" for their leader.
They are currently involved in a stand-off with French troops and foreign residents in the nearby Hotel Ivoire.
The BBC's James Copnall in Abidjan describes seeing people dressed in the colours of the Ivorian flag singing and chanting in front of barbed wire erected by peacekeepers around the hotel.
"We are not going to leave," one Gbagbo supporter told the Associated Press news agency. "If I get the French, I can eat them."
At the weekend, tens of thousands of President Gbagbo's supporters marched on the French-held main airport in Abidjan.
They also went on the rampage across the city attacking French targets.
France sent 600 more troops to back up the 4,000 soldiers it already has in Ivory Coast as part of a UN force of 10,000.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/3994853.stm
Published: 2004/11/09 15:13:10 GMT
© BBC MMIV