France To Cut Ivory Coast Peace Force After Deal

France will send home around 500 of its 3,500 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast in the next two months

The French forces back up more than 7,000 U.N. troops who police a buffer zone running across the West African state separating the rebel-held north from the government-run south.

The planned move comes after President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro signed a peace deal in neighbouring Burkina Faso on March 4 which calls for U.N. and French peacekeepers to dismantle the buffer zone.

"It's a technical adaptation taking into account the positive evolution in Ivory Coast's security situation," Lieutenant Colonel Christian Rascle told reporters at the headquarters of the U.N. mission in the main city Abidjan.

"I think it should happen within two months ... (The force) should go down to less than 3,000 men," he said.