Around 50 people were killed by French troops in Ivory Coast during three days of violence which exploded after France wiped out most of the country's military aircraft, an Ivorian minister said today.
"We have counted around 50 people dead, all of them were demonstrators shot by the French," National Reconciliation Minister Sebastien Dano told reporters, adding the death toll was for both the main city Abidjan and other towns.
There was no independent confirmation of the figure but sources at one hospital in Abidjan said 18 people had been taken in dead or had died there of their wounds.
France destroyed two Ivorian military aircraft and five helicopters after the West African country's air force killed nine French peacekeepers in a bombing raid on Saturday. France's response sparked violent anti-French protests.
The former colonial power, which is the world's top cocoa producer, then deployed troops in the main city Abidjan to try to end the rioting. Mr Dano, a member of President Laurent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front, said the demonstrators were shot by French helicopters and tanks and by troops with rifles.
"The French intervened in a disproportionate way. They destroyed the republic's property, they killed and wounded. We don't understand this violence," he said. "It is France which is attacking and humiliating us."
South African President Thabo Mbeki flew to Ivory Coast today to launch an African effort to rein in chaos here amid four days of government and street-level confrontations with French troops.