IVORY COAST: France said yesterday it had foiled a bid to destabilise Ivory Coast, arresting a group of mercenaries at the weekend as they made for the troubled west African state.
"I can confirm that the French authorities, having become aware of an attempt to destabilise Ivory Coast. . . took all the necessary steps to end this operation," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The ministry said the matter was now in the hands of the judiciary. Diplomatic sources said around 10 people were detained at one of the main Paris airports, but officials declined to confirm this information.
Thousands died in a civil war in Ivory Coast following a failed coup in the former French colony 11 months ago. The violence drove more than a million people from their homes.
Despite a Paris-brokered peace plan that ended the fighting and led to a shaky national unity government, tensions remain high in the world's top cocoa producer, which is still divided between rebel-held north and government-held south.
Mr Toussaint Alain, a close aide to Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, accused rebels of hiring the mercenaries.
"We have known for several weeks that successive waves of mercenaries, acting on behalf of the rebels, have been trying to enter Ivory Coast," he said.
"We know that Paris is a nerve-centre for those opposed to the authorities, who have launched destabilisation operations and planned coups d'état." Rebel movements had no immediate comment on his accusations.
Both sides accused each other of hiring mercenaries in the war.
France, whose forces patrol the front line with west African peacekeepers, said the weekend arrests marked the first time a new anti-mercenary law passed in April had been used.
The French ministry declined to say who it believed was behind the plot. - (Reuters)