"Go away..or I shall taunt you a second time!"
Posted on 12/01/2003 3:53:20 PM PST by blam
French troops under attack from mobs
Pro-government mobs are laying siege to the main French military base in the Ivory Coast.
The mobs in the country's commerical capital of Abidjan are 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 believed to be 250-strong.
French forces in riot gear held the gates as the protesters set fire to barricades outside the base's entrance.
Government-allied militias and youth groups are demanding that French peacekeepers withdraw from the ceasefire lines and the country overall.
"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."
About 4,000 French and 1,200 West African peacekeepers are holding 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.
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