A total of 1,300 of the 3,900 students in French schools in Abidjan, economic capital of the war-torn country, returned to class in France and other 1,570 were settled in other countries, French Foreign Ministry announced Friday.

Among the 1,570 students, 500 were admitted in Senegal, 230 in Ghana, 170 in Togo, 70 in Burkina Faso and 40 in Mali. And 450 others will be received in Lebanon, 60 in Morocco and 50 in Tunisia.

The majority of the French schools in Abidjan, which ensure education of children from nursery to high school, were destroyed in the anti-French violence between Nov. 6 and 9, by supporters ofthe President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire.

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 Abidjan prompting some 7,200 French and more than one thousand Europeans to flee the country.

Source: Xinhua