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ABIDJAN, Nov 11: France evacuated hundreds more citizens fleeing violence in Ivory Coast on Thursday as opposition leaders from its former colony gathered in South Africa for talks aimed at rebuilding peace.
African leaders are terrified another bout of full-scale war in a country bordering Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana could destabilise the whole West African region.
Some 300 French nationals and other foreigners flew out after days of anti-French mob attacks in the world's top cocoa grower, which has been split between a government-run south and a rebel-held north since a failed coup in 2002.
"We'll never look at this place the same way again. There will always be that scar," said Frenchman Stephane Mira, leaving the main city Abidjan with his wife and 13-year-old son.
"What scares me the most is that a civil war like the one in Rwanda could explode," said Mira, a 40-year-old sales manager for the Goodyear tyre company.
Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo began forcing out thousands of French citizens and other foreigners on Saturday, looting homes and burning businesses in the main city Abidjan, after Paris wiped out Ivory Coast's air force.
France struck after an Ivorian warplane bombed a French peacekeeping base on Saturday, killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker, as part of an offensive on rebel-held territory that shattered an 18-month ceasefire.
Abidjan seemed to be moving towards normality on Thursday, with some shops reopening and orange taxis back on the streets.
Trucks carrying cocoa beans unloaded at the country's two main ports as leading exporters started to reopen.
Crowds of militants near Gbagbo's home and state television had dwindled, although they continued to accuse France of acting like an occupying force and plotting to topple the president.
"The French can't take him away. We will stay here for two months if that's what it takes," said Gbayoro Gbegbe, 19, looking tired after spending the night in the street.
Richard Kadio, the Ivorian government's medical co-ordinator, said on Wednesday 54 people had died from bullet wounds around the country after being shot by French soldiers and 1,266 were injured.
BRITAIN SENDS SHIP: France, which deployed troops in Abidjan and took control of the airport after the violence erupted, flew out some 800 French and other foreign nationals on Wednesday.
Many other Western states are making similar arrangements. Britain said it was sending about 300 soldiers and a Royal Navy ship to evacuate some 400 of its nationals and others.
The United Nations mission in the country, meant to be helping build peace between the government and the rebels, flew non-essential staff out to neighbouring Ghana on Thursday.
South African President Thabo Mbeki met Gbagbo in Abidjan on Tuesday and was to talk with opposition leaders on Thursday.
A key demand of Gbagbo's opponents is a change to the constitution to let opposition leader Alassane Outtara stand in a presidential election due next year. Gbagbo has insisted any change would have to go to a referendum after rebels disarm.
Nigeria has called for an urgent West African summit and suggested a force of 4,000 African peacekeepers for Ivory Coast.
JAILBREAK: At least 4,000 of the 5,500 inmates at the main prison in Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan took advantage of work on a new security system to escape over the weekend, prison sources said on Wednesday.
They crawled through sewage tunnels stretching from the facility to the nearby Banco national forest, the sources said, in a jailbreak that came as the city was engulfed in anti-French mob violence.-AFP
