Associated Press
 
Updated: Mon. Dec. 1 2003 2:04 PM ET

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — French soldiers fired tear gas and blanks to expel a rock-throwing mob of government supporters Monday that attacked the main French military base in Ivory Coast's commercial capital.

Soldiers in riot gear then formed a cordon outside the gates of the base to hold back the crowd of 250 young men. White fumes from the tear gas clouded the air, mingled with black smoke from a roadblock of burning metal drums set afire at the gates by the mob.

About 4,000 French and 1,200 West African peacekeepers are in Ivory Coast to enforce a cease-fire in this former French colony, keeping the peace between northern-based rebels and the southern-based government after a nine-month civil war.

The war was declared over in January, but a power-sharing deal has failed to take hold. The country remains split between the rebels and the government.

Monday's demonstrators demanded that the French clear a buffer zone between north and south, allowing government forces to reach the rebels.

On Sunday, Ivory Coast soldiers briefly seized control of state television headquarters, broadcasting demands that French and West African peacekeepers leave so armed forces can resume attacks on insurgents.

Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer and a West Africa economic hub, stood for decades as one of the region's most prosperous countries until a 1999 coup. Ethnic and political tensions have since ravaged the country, leading to repeated rampages and uprisings.

Civil war erupted in September 2002 with a failed coup attempt against President Laurent Gbagbo. Rebels quickly seized the north and much of the west of the country, and only forceful intervention by the French stopped the fighting.

A peace deal and power-sharing plan between rebels and government has since stalemated, and Gbagbo's government is believed to have substantially rearmed.