The French army took over Ivory Coast's main airport yesterday as the battle for Abidjan dragged into a fourth day and recognised leader Alassane Ouattara came under fire for a massacre in the west.

In a telephone conversation with Ouattara, UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded he take action against followers who took part in a massacre of about 800 people, a UN spokesman said yesterday.

Ouattara told Ban that his followers were not involved in events in the western town of Duekoue, spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

The international Red Cross and United Nations say about 800 people were killed in an operation by proOuattara forces in the town last Tuesday as they took territory from Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo.

Ouattara also told Ban he had ordered an investigation.

Gbagbo, meanwhile, resisting international calls to step down, mobilised his supporters around his strongholds in the seaside city.

The French force Licorne took control of the airport in Abidjan and Paris reinforced the troops with 300 men as over 1,500 foreigners sought refuge at the French military camp amid violence and looting in the city.

Early yesterday residents and AFP journalists said Ouattara's fighters held firm to their positions as sporadic heavy arms fire broke out near the presidential palace. The whereabouts of Gbagbo were unknown.

As tension in the city, awaiting a final showdown, reached fever pitch, Gbagbo's state television broadcast virulently anti-French messages.

The RTI television station, a vital means of communication for Gbagbo

to his loyalists, was briefly captured by pro-Ouattara fighters on Thursday night before Gbagbo troops regained control and restored the signal.

Weary with failed diplomatic efforts to resolve a post-election crisis, Ouattara's army on Monday launched a lightning offensive across the country before arriving in Abidjan on Thursday.

Fierce attacks on Gbagbo's strongholds have shaken the city with artillery explosions and machine gun fire, but the strongman, internationally isolated, economically asphyxiated and virtually cornered in Abidjan, is fighting to the last.

The Catholic mission Caritas reported 1,000 were "killed or disappeared" while the UN mission gave an initial death toll of 330, saying while both camps were involved in the mass killings, the majority of deaths were caused by Ouattara fighters.