LIBREVILLE, Nov 6 (AFP) - France on Saturday deployed three Mirage fighter jets to the Gabonese capital Libreville as a precautionary measure in response to escalating violence in Ivory Coast, a French military source told AFP here.
"Considering the situation in the Republic of Ivory Coast, France has decided to deploy three Mirage F1-CR aircraft to Libreville from Ndjamena as a precautionary measure," the source told AFP.
The deployment from the Chadian capital came as eight French troops were killed and 23 wounded in an attack by Ivory Coast government aircraft on French positions in the central rebel stronghold of Bouake.
The French force responded by destroying the two Ivorian Sukhoi 25 aircraft involved in the strike. The former colonial power France has 4,000 troops stationed alongside UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.
France keeps some 800 troops stationed permanently in Gabon, most of them in Libreville, and has two C-130 transport aircraft and three Cougar helicopters based there. The Mirage F1-CR is a combat and reconnaissance jet.
Gabon has served as a starting point for several European and United Nations troop deployments in Africa, notably to Ivory Coast in October 2002 and to the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri region.
11/06/2004 16:30 GMT - AFP