COTE D'IVOIRE WFP suspends flights to Man after shots fired near plane

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that it had suspended flights to the rebel-held city of Man in western Cote d'Ivoire for at least two weeks after rebels surrounded one of its aircraft, fired warning shots and threatened its passengers in an incident last week. “We have suspended the humanitarian air service for two weeks or so, but we haven’t suspended our operations there,” WFP spokeswoman Jennifer Jacoby told IRIN. On Thursday 25 November, rebels fired several warning shots as a 12-seater WFP plane landed at Man. The passengers and crew were surrounded by rebels shouting abuse and protesting that they had not been informed of the arrival of the plane, she added. “After 15 minutes, the new town commander, who is known as Fargas, showed up. He said he hadn’t been able to come to the airport and inform his men because he had no fuel for his car,” Jacoby said. After the arrival of the rebel commander, the crew and passengers, who included staff of WFP and Medecins Sans Frontieres, were allowed to leave. “It was basically a communications problem,” Jacoby said. “But it was a threatening situation and that’s why we decided to temporarily suspend the flights.” WFP operates a twin-engined Let 312 plane in Cote d'Ivoire. This normally connects the commercial capital Abidjan with Man, the coastal town of Tabou on the Liberian border, and the Guinean capital Conakry. The New Forces rebel movement which controls the northern half of Cote d'Ivoire has become particularly sensitive about aircraft movements since the government launched an aerial bombardment of rebel positions on 4 November in preparation for a resumption of hostilities on the ground. The bombing campaign was cut short after two days and preparations for a major ground offensive were aborted when French peacekeeping troops destroyed the air force's small fleet of jet bombers and attack helicopters in retaliation for the death of nine French troops during an air raid on the rebel capital Bouake. Jacoby said that during the air raids on Bouake, rebel forces requisitioned four WFP four-wheel-drive vehicles in the city. Three of these were returned a few days later, but WFP was still negotiating the return of a pick-up truck, she added. Air France, which formerly provided the main direct air link between Cote d'Ivoire and Europe, suspended its regular daily flights to Abidjan when the violence erupted early November. The airline was due to resume a more limited service of direct flights from Paris to Abidjan on Monday.