ABIDJAN, Jan 20 (Reuters) - France will reduce its peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast to 1,800 troops from the existing 2,400 because of improving security in the West African nation, a spokesman for the force said on Sunday.

The world's top cocoa grower has been divided between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a brief 2002-2003 civil war, but tensions have eased since the two sides agreed a plan last year for reunification and elections.

"The security situation in Ivory Coast is improving. We have seen the two parties, particularly the (government) army, pulling away from the front line," Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Combarieu told Reuters by telephone.

The French soldiers operate in their former colony under a United Nations mandate and back up a larger U.N. peackeeping force of nearly 8,000 troops from other African nations as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"We are going from 2,400 to 1,800. We will have the same mission and capacity because we are keeping all our helicopters and planes," Combarieu said. The French force had around 4,000 troops for several years after fighting in the civil war ended.

Combarieu said French troops would still be stationed in the southern economic capital Abidjan and in the rebel stronghold of Bouake in the country's centre, but they would vacate a third site near the political capital Yamoussoukro.

President Laurent Gbagbo appointed rebel leader Guillaume Soro prime minister last April to bolster the latest peace deal.

But although the former foes are now working together, progress on disarmament and elections has fallen months behind schedule, raising questions about whether the polls will be held by the middle of 2008 as Gbagbo has proposed.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council renewed the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping contingent in Ivory Coast for six months in a bid to ensure that the post-civil war elections are held as planned by mid-year. (Reporting by Peter Murphy; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

AlertNet news is provided by