Site WikiLeaks, publishing secret documents, revealed the information, relating to an incident in November 2004 with the direct involvement of Belarusian pilots. It was an air-raid on a French military base in Ivory Coast, having killed nine French soldiers and one person from the civilian base personnel.
A dispatch from Paris, dated February 2006, referring to former Interior Minister Francois Boko of Togo, reports that it was Belarusians to have controlled attack aircraft, by bombing a French military base on November. 6, 2004.
Ex-Minister claims Belarusian military mercenaries carried out the incident. Being interviewed by the U.S. Embassy representatives, Togo Francois Boko, forced to flee the country and seek asylum in France, said that two aircraft Sukhoi-25, used in the bombing, as well as other military equipment, had been imported into the country from Belarus. «Disassembled aircrafts arrived in Togo, where they were collected and sent to Cote d’Ivoire,» the former African official said.
In addition, the materials also say that nine Belarusians — pilots and technical personnel- were arrested by Boko after the bombings on November 6, 2004, which was reported to the French embassy. The French side hinted subtly to hush up the incident, having detained Belarusians for about two weeks, as «France does not intend to complicate relations with Belarus on this matter.»
