From BBC World Service News

Up to 1,000 stone-throwing youths have blockaded Abidjan airport as French
nationals tried to leave, fearing renewed hostilities in Ivory Coast.
A French soldier was injured in the protests, which came as a new
transitional prime minister was due to arrive in Ivory Coast.

Seydou Elimane Diarra was chosen as the new premier at French-brokered peace
talks last week but supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo are refusing to
accept the deal.

When the agreement was announced, they staged four days of anti-French
protests, accusing the former colonial power of forcing Mr Gbagbo to share
power with rebels who control the largely Muslim north.

The army has also said it will refuse to obey a rebel defence minister,
which was reportedly part of the deal, although this does not appear in the
official text.

Mr Diarra is due to fly to Abidjan from the Senegalese capital, Dakar, where
West African leaders are discussing the Ivory Coast crisis.

"Go home and don't come back," the protestors screamed at families seated
next to piles of luggage.

Hundreds of French nationals have already left Ivory Coast on charter
planes, fearing that full-scale war could resume.

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 French nationals in Ivory Coast, the
world's largest producer of cocoa, the raw ingredient of chocolate.

Mr Gbagbo has not yet delivered his address to the nation, in which he has
promised to explain why he agreed to the controversial deal.

The BBC's Tom McKinley in Abidjan says that the president has little choice
but to break his promise and reject the plan for reconciliation.

French schools have brought forward their mid-term holidays by two weeks
because of the trouble.

The French Government stresses that it has no immediate plans to evacuate
other French nationals but is continuing to monitor the situation "by the
hour".

Some 2,500 French troops are monitoring the ceasefire.




_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~