November 14, 2004 in Nation/World

Westerners continue to flee Ivory Coast

Pauline Bax Associated Press
 

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Frightened Westerners – many of them longtime residents of this former African economic success story – piled into buses, boats and planes Saturday as a French-run evacuation built, despite government promises to protect the expatriates from a surge of anti-foreigner violence.

As calm returned to the war-divided country, African leaders redoubled efforts to resolve a crisis they say threatens regional stability.

But in a potentially ominous sign, President Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday appointed a hard-liner as new army chief of staff, replacing a popular, moderate general.

The new chief of staff, Col. Maj. Phillipe Mangou, was the field commander responsible for last week’s air campaign in which Ivory Coast warplanes bombed a French military post, killing nine French peacekeepers and an American civilian, and plunging the West African nation into its current crisis.

France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler, and other countries have flown out nearly 4,000 foreigners since Wednesday, embassy officials said, in what they expect will be one of the largest evacuations from Africa in post-independence times.

Most of those leaving are French, but they also include hundreds of Americans, Britons, Dutch, Spaniards and Lebanese. Private companies have evacuated another 470 of their employees.

Gbagbo’s office issued a statement late Friday urging foreigners to stay, saying it was taking steps to assure their safety. But after more than two years of intermittent civil war, many Westerners were skeptical of Gbagbo’s assurances.

Busloads of Westerners continued to pull up at Abidjan’s airport, under heavy French guard, to catch evacuation flights Saturday. But French military officials said about 200 others under their protection had decided to stay.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Saturday that France had proof some of its citizens were raped during five days of rioting in Abidjan and other cities.

© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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