France began to withdraw its reinforcement forces sent to Cote d'Ivoire after the crisis of Nov.6, French Defense Ministry said Thursday.

Only a company of 150 soldiers will stay in Abidjan to stand bythe side of the 4,000-strong French Unicorn force that once reached 5,300 people, said Colonel Gerard Dubois of France's staffat a news conference.

The reinforcement was sent to the war-torn West-African countryafter an air strike on Nov. 6 hit a French base, killing nine French peacekeepers and a US aid worker sparking an unprecedented confrontation with France.

France retaliated by destroying almost the entire air force of Cote d'Ivoire, a reprisal which led to mass anti-French protests and violence in the economic capital of Abidjan, prompting some 7,200 French and more than one thousand Europeans to flee the country.

The troops sent from the French base in Libreville, the Gabonese capital, will return to the base on Thursday and Friday, and half of the troops coming from France will board a warship named "La Foudre", which was sent to the spot for reinforcement.

The French fighter jets Mirage sent from Chad will also regain their base, as well as planes sent from Lome.

"We have a deployment that is not rigid and can fit thanks to the means in Africa in particular," said the spokesman of the French Defense Ministry Jean-Francois Bureau.

Source: Xinhua