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Ivory Coast President Ouattara on First State Visit to France

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara makes his first state visit to France on Wednesday, less than a year after troops from the cocoa-rich nation's former colonial master helped evict his predecessor.

The main focus of the former IMF official's visit, which lasts until Saturday, will be the signature of a new security agreement with President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he meets on Thursday ahead of a state dinner.

"This visit is an opportunity to hail the progress made by Ivory Coast since the departure of president (Laurent) Gbagbo. It will be an opportunity to reaffirm France's support for the new Ivorian authorities," a French government source said, requesting anonymity.

Ivorian government spokesman Bruno Kone told Agence France Presse the visit should mark a return to normality between the two countries after Gbabgo's rollercoaster presidency from 2000-2011 that he said was marked by "incomprehension and distrust."

France was a key ally of Ouattara's after Gbabgo refused to stand down despite losing a November 2010 presidential election. Around 3,000 people died in the bloody presidential stand-off from December 2010 to April 2011.

A final push to Abidjan by pro-Ouattara former rebels backed by French and UN forces eventually toppled Gbagbo, who was taken prisoner and now faces war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Sarkozy was the only Western head of state to attend Ouattara's swearing-in in May last year.

Illustrating remaining tensions, at least one person died at the weekend when a meeting in Abidjan of supporters of deposed strongman Gbagbo was broken up by people described by some observers as Ouattara supporters.

France's Licorne (Unicorn) peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast has been reduced to 450 troops from 1,600 at the height of the crisis. It will soon be only 300-strong, tasked with training the Ivorian army.

Ouattara has asked for more troops, citing the rising threat of Islamist militants in west Africa.

Ivory Coast must demobilize the former rebels and unite former fighters from both sides in a professional army.

A French security source said Ouattara's visit could be an opportunity "to tell him about our impatience" on demobilization and reconciliation.

While NGOs and Gbabgo supporters accuse Ouattara's side of pursuing "victor's justice" rather than reconciliation, a French diplomat said: "We trust him."

France is the main trading partner of Ivory Coast, a former west African economic powerhouse.

Bilateral security cooperation irreparably broke down in 2004 when Ivorian forces carried out an aerial attack on French troops stationed in the north, prompting a retaliation in which the entire Ivorian air force was destroyed.

France's military involvement in Gbagbo's arrest was aimed at promoting democratic values in Africa but resulted in accusations that France was still performing a colonial role.

"The dominant principle today is support for (democratic) processes, not men," a Paris diplomat said.

As presidential candidate in 2007, Sarkozy promised to break with the cozy and often corrupt Franco-African relations of the past.

France was no longer going to be "Africa's policeman," Sarkozy said in 2008, three years before French troops attacked Gbagbo within his presidential palace.

Antoine Glaser, a specialist in Franco-African relations, said: "The Ivorian crisis pushed France backwards in its desire to get out of its former sphere of influence."

The French intervention "created a situation that might be advantageous in terms of the defense of French economic interests but which encourages ambiguity over its relationship with the continent," he said.

Source: Agence France Presse


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