Paris, 18 Jul - (ANA) - French president Francois Hollande has begun a three-day visit to West Africa likely to be dominated by security threats in the region and fostering economic ties. On his first stop in Ivory Coast, Francois Hollande is being accompanied by 50 French business leaders. France still has huge economic interests in Africa, and many French businesses operate in Ivory Coast. French-backed troops helped end a post-election conflict in the former French colony three years ago. They captured former President Laurent Gbagbo, who had refused to accept defeat in the November 2010 presidential election. Some 3,000 people were killed as the country descended into civil war that lasted more than four months. Franco-Ivorian relations were strained under Mr Gbagbo's decade in power and at one stage French citizens and economic interests were attacked in Abidjan by his supporters.

Last month, the International Criminal Court said it had enough evidence to put Mr Gbagbo on trial for war crimes. He denies the charges and says he was the victim of a plot by France to oust him. The French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique says there are about 200 French subsidiaries and some 400 small and medium French firms in Ivory Coast. The French business leaders hope to take advantage of the Ivorian economy's strong growth rate of between 8% and 9% in recent years. World Bank figures show that Africa accounts for about 3% of France's exports. According to a paper issued by UK think-tank Chatham House last year, the continent also remains an important supplier of oil and metals to France. It says uranium from Niger is particularly strategic and 25% of France's electricity production depends on it. Mr Hollande will then visit Niger and then Chad, and is expected to finalise a plan to reshuffle the French military presence in the Sahel region. France believes that armed groups in the Sahel are not only a threat to West African countries but also to Europe and intends to keep 3,000 troops there under a regional command structure based in Chad. Most of these troops are already stationed in the region but they will now be deployed across borders to combat jihadi groups, some of which are linked to al-Qaeda. They will particularly focus on the stretch of desert land that straddles across northern Mali, Niger, Chad and southern Libya, where most of the militias operate. (ANA)

FA/ANA/18 July 2014---------