demanded Gbagbo's resignation and revenge for Guéï's death. On 28 November, MJP and MPIGO took control of Man, and French troops were drawn into hot conflict for the first time, recapturing the airport in a battle which killed ten rebels and injured one French soldier. On the government side, FPI supporters, led by the Young Patriots (COJEP, Congrès panafricain des jeunes et des patriotes), clashed frequently with opposition supporters in violent communal political demonstrations. By the middle of December 2002, 400 people had died in the conflict and 100,000 more had been displaced. At that time, there were more than 2,500 French troops, including members of the Foreign Legion, in the Ivory Coast; their mission had been enhanced, to include enforcing the 17 October ceasefire by maintaining a buffer zone between rebel forces in the north and government in the south. In December, the rebels regrouped politically, with MJP and MPGIO joined MPCI as junior partners in a new political coalition, the New Forces of Ivory Coast (FNCI, Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire), led by Guillaume Soro of the MPCI. This merger was viewed as a strategic choice to improve the rebels' bargaining position ahead of upcoming peace talks. Thereafter, the New Forces administered its northern territories in ten "comzones", each headed by a zone commander, who was typically a former military officer. First round of peace talks ECOWAS intervention: 18 January 2003 ECOWAS leaders had agreed on 18 December 2002 to deploy an ECOWAS Peace Force for Côte d'Ivoire, comprising 3,200 military personnel. The force was to arrive before the end of December and take over from France in monitoring the ceasefire. However, its deployment was delayed, and the first contingent of troops did not arrive until 18 January 2003 and consisted of only 172 soldiers. According to the International Peace Institute, the inadequacy of ECOWAS's intervention motivated France to lobby in the United Nations (UN) Security Council for a UN peacekeeping operation and, in January 2003, to spearhead peace talks. Linas-Marcoussis talks: 15–26 January 2003 From 15 to 26 January 2003, the various parties – government, rebel forces, and opposition political parties – met at Linas-Marcoussis, near Paris, France, to undertake substantive peace negotiations. The talks were "a French-driven initiative with inputs from regional organizations and the UN": they were chaired by Pierre Mazeaud, the chairman of the French Constitutional Council, who was assisted by Kéba Mbaye (a