French troops in Ivory Coast have the right to defend themselves if they come under attack, Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Sunday, according to Reuters. "If they are directly attacked ... there is the right of legitimate defence," she said in an interview with television channel TV5, radio RFI and Le Monde newspaper. Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday told U.N. and French troops to leave the country, but U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon rejected the call.
