IVORY COAST: FRENCH TROOPS HELP MORE TRAPPED FOREIGNERS AND LOCALS ESCAPE FRESH FIGHTING

Record ID: 183602

  • Title: IVORY COAST: FRENCH TROOPS HELP MORE TRAPPED FOREIGNERS AND LOCALS ESCAPE FRESH FIGHTING
  • Date: 5th December 2002
  • Summary: (W8) ON THE ROAD BETWEEN VAVOA AND DALOA, IVORY COAST (DECEMBER 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV FRENCH ARMY JEEP AND CIVILIAN CAR DRIVING PAST FRENCH CHECK POINT AND FRENCH FLAG; AFRICAN FAMILY INSIDE CAR (2 SHOTS) 0.15 2. MV FRENCH SOLDIER ON ROAD WATCHING MILITARY CONVOY PASSING BY 0.18 3. SLV FRENCH PICK UP TRUCK WITH MACHINE GUN AND SOLDIERS; SCU FRENCH FLAG FLAPPING IN THE WIND (2 SHOTS) 0.30 4. MV FRENCH CITIZEN CALLING HIS RELATIVES ON THE PHONE 0.37 5. MV FRENCH SOLDIERS HELPING INJURED FRENCH WOMAN; MV FRENCH SOLDIERS TALKING TO FRENCH EVACUEES; SLV FRENCH SOLDIERS WALKING (4 SHOTS) 1.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ON THE ROAD BETWEEN VAVOA AND DALOA, IVORY COAST
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Reuters ID: LVA2ZPCPXX0L1PFATD62U4XDKS2V
  • Story Text: French troops helped more trapped foreigners and locals
    to escape fresh fighting in Ivory Coast as the country's
    embattled leader met West African neighbours to try to end the
    spreading conflict.

    Troops from the former colonial power said they were
    evacuating about 80 foreigners from Touba in the northwest.

    Like Danane and Man, 115 km (70 miles) to the south, Touba
    fell to the rebels late last week.

    Cameras crews and journalists on the ground said they saw
    only 20 to 30 evacuees coming from Touba, on the road between
    Vavoa and Daloa, and that most of them appeared to be local
    people taking advantage of the French military operation to
    flee the killing.

    Skirmishes flared again at Man, the main town in western
    Ivory Coast, where President Laurent Gbagbo's forces backed by
    mercenaries with tanks and helicopter gunships said they had
    pushed out the newest rebel faction on Monday.

    Surprise attacks by hitherto unknown bands of insurgents
    have added to the misery of the world's biggest cocoa
    producer, already split in two by a rebellion that began with
    a failed September 19 coup and left hundreds dead.

    French soldiers had been deployed at Touba to monitor a
    ceasefire agreed by Ivory Coast's main rebel group on October
    17, but the ceasefire has fallen apart in the west after the
    emergence of the new factions.

    The French flew 160 foreigners out of Man at the weekend
    and have evacuated more than 3,200 since the crisis began.

    Residents of Man said rebels had left in the direction of
    Touba after loyalist troops entered the town on Monday.

    Sporadic gunshots continued in Man, the main town in the west
    and centre of the coffee industry. Overall control remained
    unclear.


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