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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

COTE D'IVOIRE: Rebels clash with French troops, town falls

ABIDJAN, 6 January 2003 (IRIN) - French troops and rebels in western Cote d'Ivoire clashed again on Monday in the western town of Duekoue, French army spokesman Lt-Col Ange-Antoine Lecia told IRIN. Four members of the French contingent were wounded but Lecia could not give casualty figures for the rebels.

Speaking in Abidjan, Lecia also said he could not say against which armed movement his men had fought. In late November, two new groups-the Justice and Peace Movement (MJP) and the Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West (MPIGO)- emerged in the West. For the last month, numerous skirmishes have occurred between each of the new groups and the French soldiers.

According to Lecia, the fighting lasted about three hours and included mortar fire. It ended around 12:30 GMT (local time).

This latest fighting has coincided with rebel incursions in southwestern Cote d'Ivoire which have led to population displacement toward the port city of San Pedro, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Monday. The southwestern town of Grabo, sources said, had fallen into the hands of the rebels.

The rush towards San Pedro is a worrisome situation, sources said. In recent days, some 2,200 people had taken refuge in the compound of a local primary school, the head of the Red Cross in San Pedro, Akpa Emmanuel told IRIN on Monday. He said it was difficult to assess the number of displaced as population movement is very unpredictable. Akpa said his organisation and others faced serious difficulties in catering for the basic needs, especially in terms of food and medical supplies. The organisations have also been struggling with transportation as the displaced want to leave San Pedro for the economic capital Abidjan, or the central towns of Bocanda and Daoukro.

These events took place amid a very eventful political weekend highlighted by the second visit of France's Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin who was in Abidjan to push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. On the first leg in Abidjan on Friday, de Villepin announced that his government was ready to receive on 15 January all the major political parties for a one-week round table discussion. This meeting is to be followed on 26 January by a heads of state meeting of countries affected by the crisis, de Villepin said. A second major announcement was made by President Laurent Gbagbo who said the national army would observe a total ceasefire on all fronts, would ground all combat helicopters used in recent air raids, and would expulse all mercenaries. The mercenaries were due to leave the country on Saturday.

The trip's second leg led the foreign minister to Bouake to meet members of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) who also pledged to stop all fighting. The MPCI has also agreed to send a delegation to Paris. Absent from the Bouake meeting were representatives of the MJP and MPIGO.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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