Hoon sends troops to Ivory Coast
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has announced that a British military force will be sent to Ivory Coast to evacuate British nationals.
In a Written Ministerial Statement published this afternoon, Mr Hoon has confirmed that around 300 Gurkha and RAF personnel will be sent to the west African country to ensure the safe departure of around 400 Britons, primarily at the British embassy in Abidjan.
Violence erupted in the former French colony after Laurent Gbagbo’s government broke an 18-month ceasefire with rebels.
The Ivorian government bombed rebel positions, killing nine French soldiers.
In retaliation, French forces destroyed the country’s small air force, provoking riots against the French and other foreign nationals.
The president said the French reaction had been “too rapid, too disproportionate”.
The French government pulled 270 French nationals from Abidjan on Tuesday.
Some 800 French nationals landed in Paris from Abidjan late on Wednesday evening.
The UN said about 5,000 people have fled into neighbouring Liberia since the fighting began last week.
Mr Hoon’s statement reads “While I cannot give the House precise details of the mission for reasons of operational security, we have now established liaison teams in Abidjan, and at Accra in Ghana. Concurrently, we have ordered the deployment of the Spearhead Lead Company Group comprising Royal Gurkha Regiment personnel to assist with this evacuation.
“The Company Group is pre-positioning in Accra and will be on immediate notive to be called forward to support the evacuation in Abidjan. It is intended to support this evacuation with a number of RAF transport aircraft. In total this equates to a deployment of around 300 personnel”.
The statement went on, “As an additional contingency we have redirected the Landing Platform Dock HMS Albion towards Cote d’Ivoire, and reduced the notice to move for other force elements should they be required. We would expect the operation to last days, not weeks”.
