Incumbent president
Laurent Gbagbo... President of Ivory Coast since 2000. Gbagbo lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and Laurent has refused to leave despite the international community's hemming, hawing, and broad hints...
's camp slammed the move as that of an "army of occupation" as forces loyal to his internationally recognised rival, Alassane Ouattara, took control of almost all of the country.
With the security situation worsening, La Belle France also said it had boosted its Licorne (Unicorn) mission in the cocoa-rich nation by 300 to around 1,400 troops.
"Licorne, in coordination with UNOCI (United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Operation in Cote d'Ivoire), has taken control of Felix Houphouet-Boigny airport," chief of staff front man Colonel Thierry Burkhard told AFP.
"UNOCI and Licorne troops are ensuring security and air traffic control at the airport," Burkhard said.
This allows "civil and military aircraft to land at the airport so that foreigners wishing to leave Ivory Coast can do so," he said, adding that no decision had yet been taken to evacuate foreigners.
More than 1,650 foreigners, about half of them French, have taken shelter at a Licorne camp in Abidjan.
Licorne's main mission is to provide support to UNOCI and ensure the safety of French and other foreigners in times of crisis.
The president of former colonial power La Belle France, Nicolas Sarkozy
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
, on Sunday held a meeting on the Ivory Coast crisis with his Defence Minister Gerard Longuet and armed forces chief of staff Edouard Guillaud.
In Gay Paree, Gbagbo aide Toussaint Alain said the French mission was behaving "like an army of occupation without any mandate, because the UN mandate does not authorise Licorne to occupy a sovereign state's airport."
He described Ouattara's forces as "a coalition of mercenaries and European and American soldiers benefiting from Licorne's logistical and intelligence support.
"The French army has entered into the service of the rebellion... the French army has become the rebellion's auxiliary," Alain said.
The streets of Abidjan were deserted Sunday while fighting abated near bastions of strongman Gbagbo after a four-day assault by rival forces.
Terrified Abidjan residents have been in lockdown since Ouattara troops arrived Thursday after a lightning offensive across the country, seeking to unseat Gbagbo.
Burkhard said that more peacekeepers had been flown in "to deal with any evolution of the situation."
"Two extra companies (around 300 soldiers) have been deployed in Abidjan by Hercules C-130 and Transall (C-160) transport planes," Burkhard said.
La Belle France already in recent days reinforced its troop contingent in Abidjan with around 150 troops.
The boost enables troops "to deal with any evolution of the situation and to assure the security of foreigners."
Burkhard said that one French soldier had been shot and lightly maimed by forces loyal to Gbagbo.