France rediscovers its global influence and muscle

Furious rebels vowed revenge. "The French are not invincible," said Guillaume Soro, a leader of the main rebel group. "They lost in Indochina. We can at least make sure there are families mourning in France as well as in Ivory Coast."

French troops intervened in Ivory Coast initially to protect foreign civilians caught in a civil war that broke out after a failed military coup on Sept. 19. But as rebels from different factions have advanced from the North and West of the country toward the commercial capital, Abidjan, French foreign legionaries have increasingly been holding the line for President Laurent Gbagbo.

Ivory Coast's three rebel factions warned yesterday that if there were any attacks by French troops on rebel positions, they would launch an all-out offensive.

French troops are ready to stay for as long as it takes to negotiate a political solution to the crisis, French Army chief General Henri Bentegeat said Sunday. "France ... can leave 2,500 men in Ivory Coast for some years if need be," he told reporters in Abidjan.

Gen. Bentegeat insisted that "there is no question of setting off to reconquer Ivory Coast," and analysts here agree that France would rather not have sent troops.

"France is involved despite herself," says Bernard Conte, an expert on Ivory Coast at Bordeaux University. "Paris has been trapped by the [Ivorian] government, and by West African leaders" who have shown themselves unable and unwilling to resolve the crisis themselves.

Leaders in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been arguing among themselves about how to handle the crisis, and bargaining with France over how much money Paris will pay to transport and equip a regional peacekeeping force, due to be in place by the end of this year.

This dilatory approach "marks the failure of French policy in Africa," based on assisting local governments to organize their own peacekeeping forces, says Mr. Conte. "African nations said they wanted to take their destiny into their own hands, but as soon as there is a problem, they look to the old colonial power for help."

The French decision to send troops, while risking criticism for reviving memories of colonial adventures, was taken "in the name of the modern concept of humanitarianism," says Moisi. After failing to halt the Rwandan genocide, "Paris is saying now that it will not allow bloodshed and the murder of civil society while sitting back passively."

This new activism, however, may come at a price in Ivory Coast. "It is easy to get involved," cautions Marchal. "But it will be quite difficult to get out."

Ivory Coast, the world's largest producer of cocoa, is the economic heavyweight of West Africa, accounting for 40 percent of the GNP in ECOWAS countries. Experts worry that Ivory Coast could spiral into the kind of bloodshed and economic chaos that have troubled neighbors Sierra Leone and Liberia. Twenty thousand French citizens live in Ivory Coast, and French companies have interests there in public works and utilities projects, including water and electricity supply.

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