French Soldiers Fire on Protesters in Ivory Coast, Reportedly Killing 5

French soldiers opened fire on a crowd of pro-government demonstrators near the residence of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, killing five people, witnesses said.

The bloodshed by peacekeepers stationed at the nearby Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan seemed likely to fuel more anti-French sentiment in the cocoa-producing West African nation.

As violence continued for a fourth day in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city, United Nations officials expressed concern about the anti-French messages being broadcast on state media.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa met Tuesday with the leaders of Ivory Coast and declared that they were committed to peace, despite days of anti-French violence in the main cities and attacks by government troops on northern rebels.

Mbeki headed an African Union mission to Abidjan to try to mediate a political solution to the violence. The conflict broke out last week when government troops attacked rebels, disrupting a 17-month cease-fire and threatening to plunge the country back into civil war.

France has more than 4,000 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast, where 6,000 U.N. troops are also deployed, and has dispatched 600 more soldiers in recent days. There are about 15,000 French residents in the former colony, one of the most prosperous and stable West African countries before a coup in 1999 and a slide into civil war in 2002.

A wave of anti-French violence swept the country over the weekend after French warplanes destroyed the Ivory Coast’s small air force. The airstrike was in retaliation for an attack by government troops on French peacekeepers near the rebel stronghold of Bouake that left nine soldiers and an American aid worker dead and 38 people wounded.

Casualty figures from the renewed violence have been sketchy and difficult to confirm. More than 500 people have been wounded in recent days, International Committee of the Red Cross estimated. Reuters news service quoted a hospital as reporting 18 dead in Abidjan over the last few days. Associated Press quoted hospital officials in the city as saying that seven people had been killed and 200 injured on Tuesday.

The violence has also halted cocoa exports from the world’s largest producer.

Mbeki said he was pleased by Gbagbo’s commitment to press ahead with two peace agreements -- known as the Linas-Marcoussis and Accra III accords.

“We spent a number of hours going over the Linas-Marcoussis and Accra III agreement,” he told reporters. “I am very encouraged by the work done by the government to make sure it responds to elements of these agreements.”

As mob violence spread over the weekend, French troops took control of the Abidjan airport and other key points, including the Hotel Ivoire. Thousands of government supporters surrounded Gbagbo’s official residence near the hotel on Monday, after rumors the French were planning to depose him.

After talks between French and Ivory Coast military leaders the day before, their forces carried out joint patrols on Tuesday.

The peace deals set deadlines for political reforms demanded by rebels followed by disarmament by the rebels, but neither side had met its obligations when the government launched the new attacks last week.

Despite Gbagbo’s reported commitment to peace and his appeals for calm, his government has sent mixed messages. People close to his administration have accused the French of planning a coup and killing dozens of demonstrators -- which French officials deny.

The French government is pushing for a U.N. Security Council arms embargo on Ivory Coast and seeking a travel ban on and a freeze on the assets of those supporting violence.