I have my doubts that anything the AFP says about these events can be trusted. Let me throw this 'out there' - the french are very unhappy about US successes in Iraq and at the same time attempting to draw attention away from their complicity with Saddam a la Oil for Food. They would like nothing better than to draw the US into this conflict. IMO.
The Cocoa industry is controlled vertically by French interests.
The food industry is France’s largest industrial sector (ahead of the car industry and
the chemical industry, according to turnover). Chocolate and Confectionery constitute 5.7% of the food industry.
The Chocolate and confectionery industry has a yearly turnover of EU 7.08 Billion (~US$9.2 Billion w/ approx exchange rate 11/20/04) in the year of 2001.
http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/files/french_food.pdf
Follow the money.