France sends extra troops to Abidjan Takes control of its airport

PARIS, Apr 3 (News agencies): France has sent extra troops to Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, and taken control of its airport. A French military spokesman said there was a security vacuum as forces formerly loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo changed sides. Fighting continues between Mr Gbagbo's troops and supporters of his rival, UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara. The city's pro-Gbagbo TV station called for people to mobilise against the French '"occupation". Mr Ouattara's forces are reported to be planning a further advance towards the presidential palace and have imposed a curfew on the city. UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said he had heard gunfire near the palace, adding that the situation was very tense. France has sent an extra 300 soldiers to Ivory Coast, defence ministry spokesman Thierry Burkhard said, taking the total French force to about 1,400. The airport had been secured by UN troops since Friday, but the French move meant the airport was now able to re-open, Mr Burkhard said. Forces loyal to the country's rival presidents are engaged in a fierce fight for control of Ivory Coast's main city. France has also boosted its Licorne (Unicorn) mission in the cocoa-rich nation by 300 to around 1,400 troops, where part of their mission is to protect foreigners from attacks and looting amid rising insecurity. "Licorne, in coordination with UNOCI (United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire), has taken control of Felix Houphouet-Boigny airport," chief of staff spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said. "UNOCI and Licorne troops are ensuring security and air traffic control at the airport," Burkhard said. This allows "civil and military aircraft to land at the airport so that foreigners wishing to leave Ivory Coast can do so," he said, adding that no decision had yet been taken to evacuate foreigners. More than 1,650 foreigners, about half of them French, have taken shelter at a Licorne camp in Abidjan. Licorne's main mission is to provide support to UNOCI and ensure the safety of French and other foreigners in times of crisis. The streets of Abidjan were deserted Sunday while fighting abated near bastions of strongman Laurent Gbagbo after a four-day assault by rival forces. Terrified Abidjan residents have been in lockdown since the army of internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara arrived Thursday after a lightning offensive across the country, seeking to unseat Gbagbo. Burkhard said that more peacekeepers had been flown in "to deal with any evolution of the situation." The president of former colonial power France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is to hold a meeting on the situation in Ivory Coast at his Elysee Palace on Sunday afternoon, his office said. Ivorian state TV, which is controlled by Mr Gbagbo, accused the French troops of preparing a genocide like the one in Rwanda in 1994, when more than 800,000 people were killed. Four UN soldiers were seriously wounded when special forces supporting Mr Gbagbo fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a UN armoured vehicle. The west of Ivory Coast has also seen vicious battles between rival militias and ethnic groups. On Saturday, the Caritas aid agency said its staff had found the bodies of hundreds of people in Duekoue, and estimated that 1,000 may have died. The International Committee of the Red Cross put the death toll at about 800, while the UN said more than 330 people were killed as Mr Ouattara's forces took over Duekoue, most of them at the hands of his fighters. However, more than 100 of them were killed by Mr Gbagbo's troops, it added. Sidiki Konate, a spokesman for Mr Ouattara's government, said that while some people had been killed in the fighting between the two sides in recent days, there had been no deliberate killings of Gbagbo supporters.