UN Troops: Seized Abidjan Main Airport

UN troops on Thursday (31/03/2011), seized the main airport Ivory Coast, Abidjan, after military commanders turned against the country's acting president, Laurent Gbagbo.

"A commander led about 100 soldiers at the airport and hand over power peacefully to the UN troops," said an official.

UN spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux, ensure that UN troops are in the airport.

"At the request of civilian airport authorities, we sent about 30 soldiers. There was little resistance on the road to reach there, but now they're at the airport," he explained.

Air France said that they had canceled a Paris-Abidjan flights scheduled to leave the French capital on Thursday night.

Forces loyal to the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, has seized a large number of cities around Abidjan in the last 48 hours when support in Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo on collapse.