South African President Thabo Mbeki was to meet his Ivory Coast counterpart Laurent Gbagbo, hoping to ease tensions after a weekend of violence that has evoked fears of a return to the conflict that has split the west African state for two years. Escorted by the UN special envoy to Ivory Coast, Albert Tevoedjre of Benin, Mbeki was whisked through the economic capital Abidjan, which suffered heavy damage over four days of vandalism and looting by rampaging hardline Gbagbo supporters but appeared calm if deserted on Tuesday morning. The South African president was mandated by the African Union to lead a peace mission to Ivory Coast after government air strikes on positions in the rebel-held north, including a French military base, unleashed a torrent of violence. AU chief Alpha Oumar Konare, who was expected to join the day-long mission, had to postpone his departure for logistical reasons, his office said. The spike in simmering tensions in the divided country has evoked fears that unrest could spread through volatile west Africa and destabilize the nascent peace in western neighbors Liberia and Sierra Leone, long torn by civil war. It has also sent prices for cocoa, of which Ivory Coast is the world's top producer, into a tailspin, hitting a three-month high on Monday and tumbling back down on Tuesday. Prices for December delivery on the London market hit 958 pounds sterling (1,776 dollars/ 1,377 euros) per tonne at midday Tuesday, compared to 993 pounds Monday evening. Joint Ivorian, UN and French patrols hit the streets Monday night following a meeting of civilian and military officials who pledged to cooperate to quell the violence that has injured at least 600 people, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Local media have reported between nine and 30 deaths but those figures have not been confirmed. "The mixed patrols went through the southern neighborhoods of the city, between the bridges (that cross Abidjan's lagoon) and the airport," one soldier told AFP after returning home at 0600 GMT Tuesday. "It went pretty well." The latest phase in Ivory Coast's two years of crisis, sparked by a botched September 2002 coup to oust Gbagbo, opened on Thursday when government planes bombed rebel military positions in the northern towns of Bouake and Korhogo. Gbagbo defended the strikes as a legitimate attempt "to liberate and reunify the country" but a final raid on Saturday hit a French military base in Bouake, killing nine French troops and a US civilian and wounding 38 others. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier has called the strike "deliberate". In an immediate riposte, France wiped out Ivory Coast's aerial fleet and seized the international airport in Abidjan, once one of Africa's most modern cities but now a battered symbol of the conflict that has devastated the country of 17 million. France's retaliation provoked a fierce response from "patriot" supporters of the president, who set off on a looting and vandalism spree that spared few Europeans in Abidjan. One in four homes was estimated to have been hit by looters, who at times stayed behind to beat the terrified residents, many of whom were pulled from their rooftops by passing helicopters. More than 2,000 foreigners have since sought shelter at the headquarters of the UN mission in Ivory Coast or at a French military base that has been a regular target of the vitriol hurled at Ivory Coast's former colonial power. The French military announced from Paris that it will mount a forward base in nearby Togo to keep aircraft within easy reach, though spokesman Colonel Gerard Dubois ruled out any firm plans to evacuate the estimated 14,000 French nationals or other foreigners. Debate was expected to resume Tuesday in the UN Security Council on a French proposal to slap an arms embargo and other targeted sanctions including a travel ban on Ivory Coast. Permanent council member China, which generally opposes sanctions as an instrument of UN policy, was waiting for input from Ivory Coast's neighbors and the AU mission led by Mbeki before making its decision **PHOTO CAPTION*** South African President Thabo Mbeki during a press conference in Tunis. (AFP)