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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
COTE D'IVOIRE: Rebels order their ministers to quit government
ABIDJAN, 30 June 2003 (IRIN) - Rebel forces in Cote d'Ivoire threatened to withdraw from a three-month-old government of national reconciliation on Monday after one of their leaders was beaten up in the commercial capital Abidjan.
The military high command of the three rebel movements that occupy northern Cote d'Ivoire ordered all nine rebel ministers to withdraw from the government at a meeting on Sunday night in the rebel capital Bouake.
However, several of the rebel ministers told a press conference in Abidjan on Monday that they would only decide whether or not to pull out after meeting a visiting delegation from the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
"We want to meet the Security Council to ask them the following question. What guarantee will they give for our security? If they fail to give any, then we will have to find an Ivorian-style solution," said Communications Minister Guillaume Soro, who is also Secretary General of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI), the main rebel group.
Soro was attacked by members of a hardline paramilitary youth organisation opposed to any concessions to the rebels when he tried to visit the headquarters of state television in Abidjan on Friday. He was forced to take refuge in the building's sick bay for two hours until police restored order and escorted him out. Soro said the attack amounted to a failed assassination attempt.
The youth organisations, known locally as militias enjoy the tacit support of President Laurent Gbagbo and have held several well publicised meetings with him. Their main leader Charles Ble Goude, has been seen in Abidjan accompanied by uniformed police bodyguards.
The rebel military high command declared a state of emergency, suspended rebel participation in the government of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and ordered all the rebel ministers to return to Bouake. It also declared the closure of transport corridors linking the government held-south with the rebel-held north of the country.
The high command said in a communique on Monday morning that these measures would only be rescinded following the appointment of a defence minister and internal security minister. The key posts have been vacant since the government of national reconciliation was formed in early April because of a disagreement between President Gbagbo, the rebels and parliamentary opposition over who should fill them.
A French-mediated peace accord in January stipulated that both these sensitive ministries should be headed by rebel representatives, but Gbagbo refused to make such appointments in the light of strong opposition from his own army.
One diplomat in Abidjan who follows the peace process closely, said the rebels, who prefer to be called "the New Forces" were apparently forcing issues to a head to get the the Security Council mission to put pressure on the government to implement fully the January peace agreement.
In particular, they wanted the international community to persuade Gbagbo to dismantle the youth militias, he added, These groups have several thousand members and are regularly seen jogging in sports kit through the streets of Abidjan doing military style training. Some of them claim to have access to weapons.
The Security Council team, led by Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, is touring West Africa to seek ways of containing the conflicts in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire and prevent them from destabilising other countries in the region.
Cote d'Ivoire, the most prosperous country in West Africa, collapsed into civil war in September last year after a failed coup. Fighting died down after the January peace agreement and the dispatch of 4000 French and 1,300 West African peace-keeping troops to police the front line.
A ceasefire between the two sides has held well since early May. The government and rebels had been due to begin a process of disarmament on August 1.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance
[ENDS]
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