June 8, 2009 
 
ABIDJAN -- Police in Ivory Coast used tear gas to disperse dozens of striking dockers who have slowed the flow of goods through the top cocoa grower's main port of Abidjan, witnesses said on Monday.

The police intervened after the workers tried to prevent new recruits, brought in to fill the gap left by dockers striking over a pay dispute, from starting their work.

"Early this morning, the dockers positioned themselves in front of the port to continue the strike and block the new recruits. The policemen dispersed them with tear gas," Landry Jean Ayekoue Atse, head of a dockers' union, told Reuters.

Monday's tear-gassing marks an escalation of the strike, which has been simmering since last week. Policemen and gendarmes in an armoured car were deployed to the port on Monday afternoon.

One cocoa exporter said they had already started to see the impact of the strike on their exports, which are starting to be delayed.

"Port activity has slowed a lot today because there are not enough dockers to work," said one port official, who asked not to be named.

"There are boats that will cancel their stop in Abidjan because the longer they stay in the port, the more it costs them," he added.