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Death raises Ivory Coast tension
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- The discovery of a body, thought to be of an opposition supporter, has raised tension in the already volatile Ivory Coast. A week of protests against a French-brokered peace deal designed to end four months of fighting between rebel and government forces reached a peak on Saturday when hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied in the capital, Abidjan. But hours after the gathering, police said a corpse had been found dumped where old cars are left in Abidjan's teeming suburb of Adjame. Police have not identified the body of the man, but protesters said he was an opposition supporter. It was not immediately clear how he died. News of the discovery was the catalyst for hundreds of opposition supporters to again take to the streets on Sunday and march through the capital. "Many of them gathered in Adjame after the discovery of the body," a police source told Reuters. He said demonstrators had set cars on fire. Saturday's rally was organised to denounce the French deal, which supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo say was forced on him by the former colonial power to the advantage of the rebels holding half the country. The peace deal is meant to end the conflict that threatens the entire region. It gave key government position to rebels and Gbagbo's political opponents, who dispute his victory in 2000 elections. Hundreds of people have been killed and more than one million displaced in the country of 16 million people since the conflict erupted. Student leader Charles Ble Goude said ahead of the march: "We say no to rebels in our government. "For us it would be like handing over to bandits the keys to your house. "This march will show our force, it will show that we are not just a handful of extremists." On Friday, more than 1,000 stone-throwing protesters laid siege to the city's main airport and in the wake of attacks by stone-throwing youths on the French embassy and an army base. France has urged its 16,000 citizens in Ivory Coast to leave the country unless their presence there was essential. Reuters contributed to this report.
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