France appeals for Ivory Coast calm

FRENCH armoured vehicles took up positions near the home of Ivory Coast’s president yesterday, and thousands of his supporters marched on the site, fearing an attempt to oust him as France clamped down on violence in its former West African colony.

The commanders of Ivory Coast and French forces appealed on state television for the crowds to disperse.

More than 500 people have been wounded and an unknown number killed in a weekend of unrest, a Red Cross official said.

Fifty armoured vehicles moved in around the home of President Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro said.

“Their presence here is scaring people. They’re crying and they think that President Gbagbo is going to be overthrown,” Tagro told The Associated Press by telephone.

French forces moved to take control of Abidjan after chaos erupted in this west African nation on Saturday. Ivorian warplanes launched a surprise airstrike that killed nine French peacekeepers and an American civilian aid worker in the north, held by rebels since a 2002 civil war divided the country.

France hit back within hours, wiping out Ivory Coast’s newly built-up air force.

African Union leaders yesterday called for an emergency session on Ivory Coast, the pride of France’s former colonial empire.