The military parade held on the waterfront of Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, at the weekend would have had the convivial atmosphere of a family event were it not for the young men in the crowd making throat slitting signs at French soldiers.

Thousands of pro-government supporters thronged to watch the parade, intended as a morale boosting exercise as Laurent Gbagbo, the country’s president, inches towards the end of his mandate with no elections in sight and with opposition parties and rebels calling for him to step down.