In 2004, an armed conflict took place between French and Côte d'Ivoire forces. On 6 November 2004, two Ivorian Air force Su-25 attack fighters launched an air attack on French peacekeepers in the northern part of Côte d'Ivoire who were stationed there as part of Opération Licorne (Unicorn), the French military operation in support of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). French military forces subsequently clashed with Ivorian troops and government-loyal mobs, destroying almost the entire Ivorian Air Force. Those incidents were followed by massive anti-French protests in Côte d'Ivoire.
Background
In 2002, a civil war broke out in Côte d'Ivoire between Ivorian military and other forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian president since 2000, and rebel forces identified with the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire. Although most of the fighting ended by late 2004, the country remained split in two, with a rebel-held north and a government-held south.
Ivorian attack on French forces
On 4 November 2004, Gbagbo ordered the counter-offensive to the rebel town of Bouaké to be backed by air strikes. France did not directly react, but on 5 November moved three Dassault Mirage F.1 jet fighters based in nearby Gabon on standby.[5]
On 6 November, two Ivorian Sukhoi Su-25bombers, crewed by two Belarusian mercenaries and two Ivorian pilots, fired on the Ivorian rebels led by Issiaka Ouattara.[6][7] One of the bombers attacked the French peacekeeping position in the town at 1 pm, killing nine French soldiers and wounding 40.[8][4] An American soil scientist was also killed. Two French peacekeeping vehicles were destroyed.[3] The Ivorian government claimed the attack on the French was unintentional, but the French insisted that the attack had been deliberate.[9][10]
At 3 pm, armed mobs of Ivorians loyal to the government took to the streets of Abidjan to protest against France and began to mass near the airport and the 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion [fr] base. At Abidjan's airport, French and Ivorian troops exchanged fire, and a French Transall C-160 military transport plane was damaged by RPGs at 4 pm. Two remaining Ivorian Su-25s, one BAC Strikemaster and one Mi-8 were damaged while three helicopters (2 Mi-24 and 1 IAR 330 Puma)[2] were completely destroyed[3] on direct orders from General Henri Poncet [fr],[6] before Ivorian protesters entered the terminal.[5]
On 7 November, thousands of Ivorian loyalists attacked a French school and army base. Crowds of young Ivorians attacked a residential district made up of French citizens, which had to be evacuated by airlift as mobs burst into their apartment buildings. Armoured cars carried armed protesters to join the fight, and French helicopters flew over Abidjan and dropped concussion grenades, while French armoured vehicles carried troops to put down the riots. Protesters erected burning roadblocks, and French gunboats were positioned beneath the bridges. Fighting continued, and, by Sunday, French forces were still not in control of the city. As the riots in the streets continued, French soldiers opened fire on Ivorian rioters; the French government stated that 20 were killed while Ivorian authorities placed the death toll at 60.[11] At Duékoué and in the northern suburbs of Abidjan, French reinforcements and Ivorian troops exchanged fire, and Ivorian soldiers and civilians were killed.[5]
French forces evacuated nearly 5,000 foreign nationals from Ivory Coast in the first half of November.[12] The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed an arms embargo on the country on 15 November 2004.[12]
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier stated President Gbagbo was "personally responsible for what has happened", and declared that the violence was "unexplainable, unjustifiable". Ivorian National Assembly President Mamadou Koulibaly told state television: "Ivory Coast has become an overseas territory in Jacques Chirac's head".[10]
Aftermath
France reportedly let the two foreign pilots leave the country in a group consisting of fifteen Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian mercenaries. Questions were subsequently raised about possible French manipulation.[13] In April 2021, a French tribunal issued life sentences, in absentia, to one Belarusian mercenary pilot and two Ivorian co-pilots for the attacks.[4]
Côte d'Ivoire had begun rebuilding its air force with help from Belarus and Ukraine a year after the French attack.[14] In 2005 UN gave permission to Ivorian government for the transport and repairs of both heavily damaged Su-25, one Strikemaster and one Mi-24.[3] The assorted equipment of the aircraft were discovered at the former residence of Félix Houphouët-Boigny by Alassane Ouattara in April 2011, at the end of the post-electoral conflict which saw Gbagbo ousted.[citation needed]
French judge Brigitte Raynaud [fr] issued an international arrest warrant for the two pilots suspected of the bombing, Patrice Ouei and Ange-Magloire Gnanduillet, in January 2006.[15] An Ivorian military court was also seeking to find former defence minister Rene Amani and the former head of the loyalist army, Mathias Doué [fr], over the bombing.[16] By 2008, relations between Côte d'Ivoire and France had returned to normal, with French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner being the first French foreign minister to visit since 2004.[17]
