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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~