In a message dated 12/27/99 7:11:02 AM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << CoteIvoire-France-refuse,2ndlead Cote d'Ivoire strongman rejects French military build-up ATTENTION - ADDS more from interview, background /// ABIDJAN, Dec 25 (AFP) - New Cote d'Ivoire strongman Robert Guei refused Saturday to allow France to send military reinforcements to the west African country, telling AFP it would lead to bloodshed. "We say 'no' to that," he said in a telephone interview. The current force of some 550 French troops "is sufficient," General Guei said. France reinforced its garrison near Abidjan with 40 men Saturday to protect its nationals in Cote d'Ivoire after the ouster of president Henri Konan Bedie, who took refuge at the base, just beside the airport, the foreign ministry announced in Paris. A force of 300 more soldiers was due to fly into Dakar, Senegal, late on Saturday, ready to deploy to Cote d'Ivoire if needed to protect French residents in the former colony or undertake evacuations. Guei, who was speaking after a meeting of senior officers called following France's announcement, said that he would defend French interests and guarantee the safety of foreign nationals. He urged people with a "hidden agenda" to abandon their aims-an implicit accusation that France wanted to restore Bedie by force, and reiterated that he should leave Cote d'Ivoire as soon as possible. "If he does not leave Cote d'Ivoire, the French ambassador will be responsible for whatever happens," he warned, adding that the young army mutineers who launched the uprising on Thursday "want to go and get" Bedie. French authorities have made no demand since Friday's coup for Bedie's restoration, calling simply for "the immediate re-establishment of order and security in Abidjan." A French diplomat in Abidjan told AFP the French were assuring Bedie's security and were negotiating with the coup leaders on how best to evacuate him, but Guei accused the French of foot-dragging. The general on Saturday reiterated dusk-to-dawn curfew instructions-after two nights of looting and sporadic gunfire in districts of the city-adding a warning that those who violated it would be fired on without warning. Bedie was overthrown on Friday when Guei, a former armed forces chief, took power after a mutiny. He has set up a 10-man junta and urged opposition and ruling Democratic Party politicians to engage in "consultations" to form a "national unity government." Forty French troops were transferred by helicopter from Libreville in Gabon to the French base at Port-Bouet on the Abidjan lagoon, the French foreign ministry announced. Diplomatic sources said that 300 more reinforcements would be based at first in Senegal, where they would be stationed in the base of the 23rd Marine Infantry Battalion. Officials in Paris indicated before Guei's interview with AFP that the strongman had given his approval for the deployment of French troops and also that lines of communication had been opened between French authorities and those behind the coup. Military experts said the reinforcement of French troops in the region and eventually in Cote d'Ivoire itself was aimed at securing Abidjan's airport should it prove necessary to evacuate foreigners. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret said "all contacts necessary to implement these measures have been made.". The French regional deployment comes with the risk of destabilisation of one of the pillars of Paris's influence in west Africa. Officials on Saturday said that warnings of caution had been "repeated regularly" to French nationals in Cote d'Ivoire, estimated at some 20,000. Relations between France and the country, which was long seen as a model of African democracy and relative economic powerhouse, have deteriorated in the past few months because of differences between Bedie and would-be head of state Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister and deputy director of the International Monetary Fund. Ouattara, seen as a serious challenger to the long-time rule of the Democratic Party (PDCI), had sought to take on Bedie in elections next year, but the ousted president's government barred him from standing on grounds that he was not fully of Ivorian nationality. Authorities close to Bedie claimed that Ouattara is Burkinabe and accused him of fraud over his identity documents, but lawyers for the opposition politician charged that the regime was manipulating judicial means to political ends. jng-hr/dc-nb/hn/gj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------