French troops besieged by Ivory Coast mobs

Pro-government mobs laid siege to the main French military base in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan today, demanding that peacekeepers withdraw from the country and allow fighting to resume in its civil war.

The soldiers, in Ivory Coast to enforce ceasefire lines in the former French colony, fired tear gas and blanks to force back a rock-throwing crowd that started at about 250-strong. French forces in riot gear held the gates against the crowd as it milled throughout the day.

White puffs of tear gas rose against billowing black smoke of barricades set afire by the mobs at the French military base’s entrance.

Government-allied militias and youth groups are demanding that French peacekeepers withdraw from the ceasefire lines and the country overall - allowing the southern-based Ivory Coast government to reopen attacks on rebels holding Ivory Coast’s north.

“This demonstration is only the beginning,” said militia leader Eugene Djue, who claims to control thousands of fighters. “We are going to protest until the French leave the front lines.”

Ivory Coast, once West Africa’s single most prosperous and stable nation, has been embroiled in ethnic, regional, political and religious tension since a 1999 coup. Northerners accuse the southern-based government of fuelling ethnic and regional hatreds.

About 4,000 French and 1,200 West African peacekeepers are in Ivory Coast to hold ceasefire lines, keeping the peace after a nine month civil war that split the nation between rebel-held north and government-held south.

The war was declared over in July, but a power-sharing deal has failed to take hold, and the country remains divided.