ABIDJAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - French soldiers fired to
disperse protesters in Ivory Coast on Tuesday after
days of rioting in the main city Abidjan.
Three people lay dead after the shooting. One was an
******* paramilitary policeman, one man had his head
blown off and a woman lay lifeless on the ground with
a large wound in her back.
Demonstrators said the gunfire had come from French
troops in a hotel while the French military declined
immediate comment.
The continuing unrest on the ground underscored doubts
about the prospects for stability despite an upbeat
assessment from South African President Thabo Mbeki on
a one-day peace mission to the world's biggest cocoa
grower.
Demonstrators in Abidjan ransacked the Hotel Ivoire
after French troops pulled out and smoke rose into the
sky. The hotel was a towering symbol of the
post-independence boom the West African state enjoyed
thanks largely to its plentiful cocoa.
The unrest, which has paralysed the vital cocoa
industry, began after former colonial power France
destroyed most of the country's military aircraft in
response to an air raid which killed nine French
peacekeepers.
French troops deployed in Abidjan, saying their only
aim was to protect French citizens and property, but
******* militants accused them of planning to topple
President Laurent Gbagbo.
Despite official appeals for calm, anti-French
sentiment was still running high on Tuesday among
backers of Gbagbo, who lost control of the north of
the country in 2002 to a rebel movement.
Protesters brought the body of a young man with a
bullet in his neck to the gates of Gbagbo's home near
the Hotel Ivoire.
"This is France, this is France!" they chanted.
A United Nations car was ablaze and streets were
littered with debris. Thousands of people thronged the
streets, some carrying branches and metal bars.
PARIS SENDS PLANES
Paris said it was sending aircraft to help supply more
than 2,000 French nationals and other foreigners
sheltering at French and U.N. military bases in Ivory
Coast and would evacuate people who had been injured
or felt traumatised by the violence.
Around 700 people have been injured and many
businesses and homes gutted since the unrest broke
out. An ******* minister said 50 demonstrators had
been shot and killed by French troops.
"The French intervened in a disproportionate way. They
destroyed the republic's property, they killed and
wounded. We don't understand this violence," National
Reconciliation Minister Sebastien Dano told Reuters.
"It is France which is attacking and humiliating us."
The White House added its voice to international calls
for an end to violence against peacekeepers and
citizens. It said the United Nations Security Council
may consider additional action if Mbeki's peace
mission did not yield results.
The South African president, at the head of an African
Union delegation, held talks with Gbagbo just before
the latest violence broke out. He said the *******
leader had pledged to implement peace deals with the
rebels.
"I must say I am very pleased by the commitment of the
President Laurent Gbagbo to implement in full
Marcoussis and Accra III (peace pacts) so that Ivory
Coast can go through a transitional process," Mbeki
said.
Each side in Ivory Coast has accused the other of
failing to stick to the peace process. Gbagbo's forces
shattered an 18-month ceasefire to start air raids on
rebel territory last Thursday which started the latest
cycle of unrest.
France is pressing for a U.N. Security Council
resolution to impose an arms embargo on the country
and slap travel bans and asset freezes on people
considered a threat to peace.
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Braun, Media
Coulibaly and Silvia Aloisi in Abidjan)
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