Ivory Coast : French troops begin to leave

[blaster_e11]

the former French colony of Ivory Coast has been in turmoil for several years with several coups. A civil war erupted in 2002 between the Northern regions controlled by the rebellion and southern government controlled regions.

The French intervention (operation Licorne : 3500 troops mostly marines (infantrie de marine) and ) is conducted under an UN mandate. French troopers fell victims of several attacks (including a devastating air raid by sukhoi jets piloted by ukrainian mercs) from the government.

Now it's obvious such a boiling political situation couldn't be frozen just by military operations. So 500 first troopers are gonna leave the country since an agreement has been found in march 2007 between the government and the rebellion


here is a pic of paratrooper (red beret) in Ivory Coast



French patrol outside abidjan in 2005