French Leaving Brazzaville Troop Pullout Sparks Fears Of Escalation Of Fighting

French troops began pulling out of the Republic of Congo on Monday, leaving the president and his rival to escalate their war, as many fear, or hammer out a peace deal with the help of mediators.

France, Congo’s former colonial power, has said all along that the only mission for its 1,200 troops was to evacuate foreigners. With most foreigners gone, French soldiers loaded crates of computers and furniture onto planes Monday and began their withdrawal to neighboring Gabon and nearby Chad.

A total of 306 soldiers left Brazzaville on Monday, with the balance to ship out over the rest of the week.

Fifty-three foreigners also were evacuated on French military planes Monday, among them 21 French citizens and the 13-member Italian diplomatic mission, including Ambassador Fausto Pennacchio. They flew to Libreville, Gabon.

Evacuations of remaining foreigners are expected to continue as long as French troops remain, French officials said.

France has airlifted nearly 6,000 people to safety since fighting broke out in this Central African country on June 5. Officials say most of those who want to leave are gone.

Heavy fighting resumed late Monday when government forces loyal to President Pascal Lissouba fired rocket launchers and mortars against the militia forces of Gen. Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

The French intervened to end the fighting, warning both sides against bringing their fighting too close to the besieged airport, Col. Henri Pelissier, a French army spokesman, told reporters.

“I think they understood the rules of the game,” Pelissier said.

There have been calls to replace the French soldiers with a multinational peacekeeping force. United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard, speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, said the idea was raised Monday at talks in Libreville, attended by representatives of both Lissouba and Sassou-Nguesso.

The roster of dignitaries involved in the Libreville talks underlined fears that Republic of Congo’s troubles will contribute to instability in an already fragile region.

Observing the talks were the presidents of Gabon, the Central African Republic, Chad and Mali, the prime minister of Equatorial Guinea and Senegal’s foreign minister, along with diplomats from the United Nations, the European Union and France.

The region is awash with refugees and weapons because of fighting in recent years in Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and the former Zaire.

Fighting erupted June 5 when Lissouba sent government forces to disarm Sassou-Nguesso’s private Cobra militia. He said he acted to avert violence before July 27 presidential election.

Sassou-Nguesso, a former dictator who will run against Lissouba, claimed the president sparked the clashes to have an excuse to delay the vote and keep power.