Le Drian said France, the former colonial power, would increase its contingent of troops in Ivory Coast to 900 from 550.
A French
soldier stands guard in an armoured vehicle , about 60 km (37 miles)
south of the town of Tessalit in northern Mali March 21, 2013.
France will nearly double the
number of troops it has in Ivory Coast, the defence minister said on
Saturday on a visit during which he laid flowers at the site of an
attack on tourists that killed 19 people.
Jean-Yves Le Drian
placed a bouquet on the beach in Grand Bassam, a resort town 40 km (25
miles) from Abidjan, where gunmen shot swimmers and sunbathers before
storming hotels last month, an attack claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb.
Four French citizens were killed.
Le Drian said France, the former colonial power, would increase its contingent of troops in Ivory Coast to 900 from 550.
"We
need to reinforce coordination in an intelligence capacity at the same
time as in an intervention capacity in the whole of West Africa," the
defence minister said.
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