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| Sunday, 5 January 2003 |
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Coast main rebel group to demand withdrawal of French troops ABIDJAN, Dec 4 (AFP) - .Ivory Coast's main rebel group will ask French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Saturday to withdraw French peacekeepers from the west African country, a rebel spokesman told AFP. "We will ask de Villepin to withdraw French troops," Antoine Beugre from the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI) told AFP from the rebel stronghold of Bouake. The French minister is to visit Bouake to meet with rebel groups later in the day. The central city has been held by the group - one of three active in Ivory Coast - along with the northern half of the country since a September 19 rebellion. The former colonial power has 2,500 troops deployed in Ivory Coast, initially to protect foreigners but which now are trying to enforce a shaky ceasefire between government troops and rebels in place since October. |
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