|
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
COTE D'IVOIRE: Police general arrested in connection with coup plot
ABIDJAN, 28 August 2003 (IRIN) - A top ranking policeman and several military officers are among a group of about 30 people arrested in Cote d'Ivoire over the past few days following the discovery of an alleged plot to assassinate President Laurent Gbagbo, military sources said.
The sources confirmed reports in Abidjan newspapers that General Alain Mouandou, the controller-general of the national police force, was among those detained since the weekend.
The crackdown appeared to be continuing. Family sources said army major Marcel Koffi M'Bahia was taken from his home in Abidjan by unidentified men who searched the house on Wednesday night.
Eleven people were arrested in France at the weekend in a related operation. They included Master-Sargent Ibrahim Coulibaly, a key figure in the 1999 coup that brought to power the short-lived military government of of the late General Robert Guei.
One of those arrested in France, the chauffeur of the Ivorian embassy in Paris, was freed on Thursday. The others were being held under anti-terrorism laws on charges of planning to involve mercenaries in a plot to destabilise Cote d'Ivoire.
Coulibaly, who had been living in exile in Burkina Faso for the past three years, has been implicated in several coup attempts. Most recently, the government accused him of involvement in an attempted coup against Gbagbo on September 19 last year in which Guei was killed. The coup failed, but it led to a civil war which left rebel forces controlling the north of the country.
A French-brokered peace agreement in January was supposed to have ended the conflict and a broad-based government of national reconciliation including nine rebel ministers, was formed in March.
However distrust between Gbagbo and the rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) remains deep. Although there has been no fighting between the government army and the rebels since April, tension has been growing in recent weeks and has been heightened further by news of the assassination plot.
This has led diplomats to fear that the truce, policed by 4,000 French peacekeeping troops and a 1,300-strong West African force, could break down.
On Wednesday, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, a former prime minister and a senior figure in Gbagbo's Ivorian Patriotic Front (FPI) party, accused current Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, the former diplomat and civil servant who serves heads the government of national reconciliation, of involvement with the latest plot.
N'Guessan accused former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, a Muslim northerner who was banned from standing against Gbagbo in the 2000 presidential elections, of being inside the conspiracy.
There has been rising tension between Diarra and Gbagbo in recent months, with the independent prime minister complaining that he needs sufficient powers to do his job properly. He has also expressed frustration at the president's failure to appoint ministers acceptable to all the main parties in government to the sensitive posts of defence and internal security.
The MPCI has insisted that these ministers be appointed before it starts to disarm and allow government administrators back into the north of the country.
The rebel movement has publicly disassociated itself from any attempt to kill Gbagbo and destabilise the government. It has also renewed its commitment to the January peace agreement.
But the MPCI has launched a high-profile campaign for Coulibaly to be freed. Another of those arrested in France was Mamadou Diamonde, the MPCI's former spokesman in Europe.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
