French EU diplomat killed in Ivory Coast

Abidjan, Feb 7: A French diplomat working for the European Union mission in Ivory Coast was shot dead early today with his own pistol at his home in the economic capital Abidjan, diplomats said.

Police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Michel Niaucel, a former police commander who was head of regional staff security at the European Commission's delegation in the war-divided West African state.

''He was killed with his own service weapon ... the first elements of the inquiry at the scene of the crime seem to rule out suicide,'' a European diplomat, who asked not to be named, told sources.

Niaucel was killed at about 0100 local time (6:30 IST ) at the apartment in an EU compound in Abidjan where he lived with his wife and daughter.

A spokesman for the European Commission in Abidjan, Lucien Houedanou, said the motive for the killing was not known.

''We have no indication about the reasons. The police are investigating,'' he said.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Paris was in contact with Ivorian authorities.

''I hope that full light is shed on this horrible murder,'' Douste-Blazy said in a statement in Paris.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, has been divided into a rebel-held north and government-run south since a brief 2002-2003 civil war.

United Nations and French peacekeeping troops protect a fragile ceasefire line separating the rival forces.

Armed robberies of the homes of expatriates and diplomats in Abidjan have become fairly common as poverty in the once prosperous former French colony has increased since the war.

France's embassy in Ivory Coast regularly advises its nationals there to be cautious and avoid crowds.

In November 2004, some 8,000 mostly French nationals fled the country after anti-French riots in Abidjan.

The protests were sparked by France's decision to destroy most of Ivory Coast's small air force in retaliation for a government bombing raid that killed nine French peacekeepers in the north.

REUTERS