Airport 'back' in Ivorian hands

The French will remain a 'discreet presence' at the airport

French troops in Ivory Coast have handed over administrative control of the airport in the largest city, Abidjan, though troops remain there.

Units have begun pulling back from some of their positions across the city. French forces were deployed two weeks ago in Abidjan to help evacuate thousands of foreigners.

Unrest broke out after the French retaliated when an Ivorian government attack on rebel positions in the north killed a number of French peacekeepers.

The French dismantled posts at the airport and moved vehicles that had been stationed on the tarmac.

But a spokesman for the 5,000 French troops in Ivory Coast told the AFP news agency that they would maintain a "discreet presence" at the airport and would guarantee overall security for the airport complex, where international commercial flights have resumed after more than a week.

Arms embargo

Two weeks after the attack on the former rebel headquarters in Bouake, the BBC's James Copnall reports that shops are open and the streets are full but the city no longer feels as safe as it did a few weeks ago.

Anti-French feelings have been running high

In another sign of improved security, Air France says that it will resume flights to Abidjan on 29 November.

But there will be just two flights a week, compared to one a day before the latest unrest.

Following the French retaliation, which destroyed the Ivory Coast air force, thousands of supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo marched through Abidjan, attacking westerners.

Supporters of Mr Gbagbo say that more than 60 Ivorians were killed when the protests were put down by French troops.

The renewed fighting dashed hopes that a power-sharing government of rebels and Mr Gbagbo's supporters could reunite Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer.

The United Nations has imposed an arms embargo on both sides in a bid to prevent further outbreaks of violence.

Following the attack by loyalist forces, breaking a ceasefire agreed in January 2003, the former rebels say that it will be impossible to solve Ivory Coast's problems while Mr Gbagbo remains in office.

The Christian and animist south is still loyal to Mr Gbagbo, while the former rebels have controlled the mainly Muslim north since September 2002.