Mbeki bids to halt Ivory Coast violence

South African President Thabo Mbeki flew to Ivory Coast today to launch an African effort to reign in chaos after four days of mob and government confrontations with French troops that injured more than 600 people and killed at least 20.

The mission came as the UN Security Council, African Union, EU and a West African leaders bloc all condemned President Laurent Gbagbo’s government for the violence, which began when Ivory Coast warplanes killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker in an air strike on the rebel-held north.

France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler, wiped out the nation’s airforce on the tarmac in retaliation, sparking massive anti-French rampages by mobs of thousands in the fiercely nationalist south.

The violence has shut down cocoa exports in the world’s largest producer, closing ports that ship more than 40% of the world’s raw material for chocolate.

Turmoil erupted at the peak of Ivory Coast’s main harvest, with overall production last year at 1.4 million tons.

Mbeki said Gbagbo had committed himself to carry out past peace accords for the war-divided West African nation, and the South African president said he was “very, very pleased”.

Talks took place at Gbagbo’s home in the commercial capital Abidjan with thousands of Gbagbo’s supporters massed outside, between the house and a crisis post of French soldiers.

The South African leader said he would now report back to the 54-nation African Union for consultations on its next steps in Ivory Coast’s turmoil.