"The ECOWAS force should be strengthened to gradually reduce the influence of French troops there," Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told a parliament committee in Cape Town.

The Economic Community of West African States has contributed the bulk of the troops serving in a 6,240-strong UN peacekeeping force, which is being supported by the 4,000 French 'Unicorn' contingent which has been reinforced by several hundred men since Sunday.

"There is bad blood between the (Ivory Coast) government and the French troops... If their people and troops are not pulling together, it becomes difficult," said Dlamini-Zuma.

"We need to solve the problem of Ivory Coast ... a full scale war there could affect other countries in the region and turn into a regional problem," she said.

President Thabo Mbeki, acting on behalf of the 53-member African Union, has invited opposition leaders from Ivory Coast to South Africa for talks on the crisis in the former French colony.

The latest upsurge of violence in Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has left some 145 people dead over the past week since a government attack on rebel-held cities in the north.

The last strike, on Saturday, targeted a French military camp in Bouake and killed nine French peacekeepers and a US civilian.

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