French soldiers fire on Ivory Coast 'looters, rapists'

French soldiers in Ivory Coast had been forced to open fire in self-defence to hold back a ”pack of looters, rapists” attacking foreigners, armed forces chief General Henri Bentegeat said today.

He said, however, that his soldiers did “the absolute minimum”.

“To protect French and other foreigners, we had to face down a pack of looters, rapists and uncontrollable or manipulated people who were constantly aggressing us and systematically going after all foreigners in Ivory Coast,” he said.

“When we opened fire it is because we were in a state of legitimate self-defence.”

Bentegeat claimed that “a very large number” of those killed and wounded and blamed on the French during five days of violent upheaval were “purely and simply killed by looters, gunmen in the crowd”.

Several European women were raped during the rioting, according to a representative of the French community in Ivory Coast.

Catherine Rechenmann said three women who returned home as part of a voluntary evacuation are known to have been raped. Two of the women are French, she said, and the third is a European of another nationality.

Anti-French sentiment in the former colony erupted after a French base was struck in an air attack, killing nine French peacekeepers, and France riposted, smashing Ivory Coast’s air force.

The turmoil since Saturday has claimed at least 27 lives – a partial list including the 10 people killed in the air strike – and wounded more than 1,000. Ivory Coast presidential spokesman Alain Toussaint said 37 loyalists had died.

The evacuation of foreigners from the West African nation continued today and the streets of the main city, Abidjan, were said to be quiet.