French reporter killed in Abidjan

Diplomats and eyewitnesses say Jean Helene, the Abidjan correspondent for Radio France Internati-onale (RFI), was killed outside a police station while waiting to interview a number of arrested Ivorian opposition activists.

An officer who allegedly fired the fatal shot in the head has been arrested and is being questioned, Abidjan police said.

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French President Jacques Chirac said he was saddened by the news of Tuesday's incident, and demanded Ivory Coast authorities "shed light on everything about this assassination," a president's spokeswoman said.

Mr Helene, 48, was an experienced journalist who had reported from Africa for many years.

"The security service of the French embassy confirms the death of Jean Helene after an argument with a policeman turned sour," said spokesman for the French embassy in Abidjan, Francis Guenon.

According to eyewitnesses at the police station in the centre of the city, a policeman had come in and told his superior that a "white man" was waiting outside.

"His boss told him to forget it, that the man was only waiting to interview the freed man, and the policeman went back out again," one of the eyewitnesses told the AFP news agency.

The eyewitnesses said the policeman then left the building and a shot was heard afterwards.

Several people went outside and saw a body lying in a pool of blood near a parked car.