In what is turning into a major scandal in France, the former head of French forces in Ivory Coast has been implicated the the Ivorian's death, further eroding fractious relations between Paris and its former West African colony.

Moreover, the incident now under investigation in France threatens to cast a cloud over a French-African summit scheduled to open Saturday in Bamako, Mali.

All this week French investigators have been questioning four soldiers in connection with the May killing of Firman Mahe, an Ivorian accused of several murders and rapes in the western part of Ivory Coast.

French soldiers shot and wounded Mahe in the leg May 13. He was then taken to an armored French vehicle, where he was supposed to be driven to a hospital in the western Ivorian city of Man.

That is where the situation appears to have exploded, and French investigators are now faced with a volley of conflicting allegations and finger pointing. Earlier, a French Defense Ministry report ascertained one fact: That Mahe was suffocated, apparently by one of four French soldiers now under investigation for his death.

Two of the four are under investigation for "involuntary homicide." The other two -- including the highest-ranking soldier present, French colonel Eric Burgaud -- are under investigation for "complicity in involuntary homicide."

Jacques Tremolet de Villers, lawyer of the soldier accused of killing Mahe, argued Thursday his client was merely following orders -- allegedly issued by Burgaud, but initially comi! ng from "the very highest level."

"When they found Firman Mahe they said they had to neutralize him," de Villers said in an interview on France-Info radio. Asked what that meant, he said: "To neutralize in military language means to eliminate him, to kill him."

Meanwhile, French media reported Thursday that Burgaud has himself passed the buck -- alleging he received implicit orders to kill Mahe by none other than Gen. Henri Poncet, the former head of France's peacekeeping operations.

"You go back up to Man. You drive slowly. You understand me," Burgaud apparently said, recounting a conversation that apparently took place seven months ago.

"I understood the same thing as everyone else: That is that ideally Mahe would be dead on arrival at Man," the colonel is reported as saying.

Poncet and an aide have already been severely reprimanded for Mahe's death, which took place during ! their watch.

Even though he no longer heads France's 4,000-strong peacekeeping forces in Ivory Coast, Poncet has been suspended from his duties while the investigation is underway. He will reportedly be questioned by investigators on the affair next week.

Regardless of the outcome, the killing has further roiled already fractious relations between Paris and warring factions in Ivory Coast -- where French troops and 7,000 United Nations soldiers are tasked to enforce an uneasy peace. Both Ivorian government and rebel forces have periodically accused Paris of backing the other side. But relations are particularly fractious between France and the Ivorian government of President Laurent Gbagbo.

Last year, Paris destroyed Gbagbo's minuscule air force following the killing of nine French soldiers by Ivorian air force planes. Gbagbo's supporters have staged a number of anti-French riots.

These and other ! violent incidents have sparked a massive exodus of French expatriates from the former West African powerhouse since conflict first erupted there in 2002. Only a fraction of them have returned.

Roland Marchal, an African expert at the National Center for Scientific Research, in Paris, predicts that French President Jacques Chirac will formally outline plans for troop redeployment across Africa during the two-day French-Africa summit in Bamako.

Those plans were first announced by French Defense Minister Michel Alliot-Marie in September. The upshot, Marchal predicts: Paris will put less military emphasis on Ivory Coast and Chad, and more on Senegal, Gabon and Djibouti.

"This means that the French presence in Ivory Coast and in Chad is no longer seen as an asset by French policy makers," he added.

Still uncertain is when France will pull out its force from the Ivory Coast. When troops were first disp! atched to keep peace there three years ago, critics complained the French government lacked an exit strategy.

Now, Marchal says, the new talk of troop redeployment "shows that the French military are more aware of changes than our diplomats are."

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