Protestors walk past the French embassy in Abidjan in anger over a French-backed deal to end a four-month war

ABIDJAN, January 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo appealed for calm after tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the Ivorian capital Abidjan to protest what they perceive as a French influence to clinch a deal ending a four-month conflict in the world's top cocoa producer once considered a haven of stability in West Africa.

Charging that the west African country's former colonial master had forced President Laurent Gbagbo to capitulate to rebels who launched a bloody insurgency in September, the protesters turned Abidjan's Plateau district into a riot zone for several hours earlier in the day, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Brandishing machetes and sticks, the protestors had set two huge bonfires outside the French embassy and barricaded the main gate with tree trunks as they hurled burning tyres into the compound, briefly setting fire to the visa section.

They paralyzed traffic and reportedly ransacked some French-owned shops.

French soldiers, reinforced by helicopter in four batches through the morning, fired stun grenades in a bid to disperse the protestors as guards at the U.S. embassy nearby also tried to turn demonstrators away.

But the angry crowd began dispersing after Gbagbo's appeal for calm.

"A crisis that lasts four months brings a heavy toll," Gbagbo said over Ivorian television from Paris. "So to get out of it mutual concessions are necessary, and I have made them."

The Ivorian president yielded to heavy pressure and agreed to share power with a "national reconciliation" government to be headed by a "consensus" prime minister Seydou Diarra, a neutral figure who has held the post before in Ivory Coast, AFP reported.

Ivorian people fear their former colonial master forced a biased peace deal on Gbagbo

The main rebel group the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) will hold the key defense and interior ministries, and the opposition Democratic Party of former president Henri Konan Bedie will get the foreign affairs portfolio.

Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front will get the finance and energy ministries, while the Rally of Republicans of former prime minister Alassane Ouattara will control the justice ministry.

"I can't believe for a second that Gbagbo could have agreed to give the defense and interior ministries to the rebels," one protester said.

The Paris summit, which formally ratified the peace deal today, brought together 10 African heads of state or government as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Commissioner Romano Prodi and representatives of Western donor nations.

The Ivorian armed forces chief of staff issued a communique saying that parts of the peace accord were "humiliating" to the army and security forces, but appealed for calm.

Prodi said the EU was prepared to offer over 400 million euros (434 million dollars) to help rebuild Ivory Coast, but only if there is a return to peace.

But he added: "This support from the EU has no sense and cannot be effectively set in motion unless the solemn pledges (at the Paris summit) are made a reality.

Chirac urged parties to the four-month conflict in Ivory Coast to honor the terms of the peace deal.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin described the demonstrators as "extremists close to the government ... who have been clearly identified."

Gbagbo left France for Ivory Coast on Sunday at the end of a summit of African leaders which ratified his country's peace accord, an aide said.