A French journalist working for Paris-based radio station Radio France Internationale (RFI) was shot dead by a policeman in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan on Tuesday, the French embassy said.

The journalist was killed outside a police station in the center of the city while awaiting the release of opposition party activists, who had been detained last week on suspicion of plotting assassination attempts.

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

President Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and the French ambassador visited the scene of the shooting late on Tuesday. Gbagbo said he was launching an immediate enquiry.

Officials said a policeman was being held.

Ever since civil war exploded last year in the former French colony, foreign media and French radio and TV channels in particular have been accused of pro-rebel bias by Gbagbo supporters and some have been criticized by the local press.

Although the war was officially declared over in July, the world's largest cocoa grower remains divided between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south, and anti-French sentiment still runs high.

Gbagbo supporters blame the French, who have 4,000 troops in the West African country, for not doing enough to beat back the rebels, while the rebels accuse the French of propping up Gbagbo's administration.

There were violent anti-French demonstrations in January after warring factions signed a Paris-brokered peace deal and some French businesses were attacked during riots this month.

A spokeswoman for French President Jacques Chirac, who leaves on Wednesday for a short visit to Niger and Ivory Coast's neighbor Mali, said he was saddened by the death of a journalist who had spent much of his career in Africa.

"(Chirac) calls on the Ivorian authorities to throw as much light as possible on this assassination, which must be the subject of a diligent and immediate investigation," said spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.

Eyewitnesses said a policeman came into the headquarters where the party activists were being released on Tuesday night and told the senior police officer there was a "white man" outside. He was told the man was a journalist, and was expected.

The eyewitnesses said the policeman left the building and a shot was heard afterwards. Some people went outside and saw a body lying in the road by a car and blood on the ground.

They ran into the building to tell the senior officer, who disarmed the policeman, saying: "You have created a major problem for us."

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