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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
COTE D'IVOIRE: Prime minister meets rebel leaders in Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUOGOU, 16 November 2003 (IRIN) - Cote d'Ivoire's Prime Minister, Seydou Diarra, and Ivorian rebel leaders have agreed to meet other parties involved in the Ivorian peace process in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, in an effort to unblock the political stalemate in Cote d'Ivoire.
Diarra announced the new meeting on Saturday after holding talks with rebel leaders in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso.
"I think the coming days are days of hope for the resumption of talks," Diarra told reporters on Saturday after meeting Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré. "We will be meeting early next week in Ghana and I expect the rebels to return home [to the government] thereafter."
But he did not give an exact date for the proposed meeting.
Thanking Compaoré, Diarra told reporters: "I and my young brothers [the rebel leaders] have received a lot of support from the president. I told the president that I should have come earlier, because the crisis has lasted too long. President Compaoré has given us wisdom and advice which gives me great hope with which I am going back to Abidjan."
Compaoré, who has been accused by Abidjan of backing the Ivorian rebellion from the time it broke out in September 2002, told reporters that he had called Ghanaian president, John Kufour, the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to arrange the meeting.
"Today there are more chances that we understand one another and that the "Forces Nouvelles" can return to the government to examine with the prime minister what is fundamental for the rest of the process," Compaoré said.
A source close to the talks between Diarra and the rebel leaders, told IRIN that the rebels, also known as "New Forces" (Forces Nouvelles) had reiterated their concerns about security in the event of their return to Abidjan.
The source said the rebels criticised Diarra for not doing enough to ensure their safety and warned that the government of national reconciliation was not viable.
The rebel delegation in Ougadougou was headed by the secretary-general, Guillaume Soro. Soro was named Minister of Communication in the government of national reconciliation set up after the signing of French-backed peace agreement signed in January.
But, along with his fellow ministers, he quit the government on 23 September, protesting that President Laurent Gbagbo had refused to delegate effective powers to ministers and had frozen plans to disarm.
The rebels did not take part in a summit on Cote d'Ivoire in Accra on November 12, but later blamed Presdient Gbagbo for the lack of progress made in Ghana. The summit hosted by ECOWAS was attended by several heads of West African states.
On Friday, the President of the European Commission (EC), Romano Prodi, told the authorities in Burkina Faso that they had a "responsibility" to contribute to the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire because at least two million Burkinabe lived there.
Prodi met Compaoré after arriving in Ouagadougou from Abidjan on Thursday night. While in Cote d'Ivoire, Prodi said the European Union will continue withhold US $465,000 of aid to the country until there was real progress in putting the country's faltering peace process back on track.
Prodi emphasised that time was running out for Cote d'Ivoire and that the Marcoussis peace agreement signed in January still represented the best solution for peace.
The EC President urged the Ivorian government to address the issues of threats to future elections, land laws and property ownership, the controversial question of citizenship, but emphasized that the rebels needed to return to government.
Prodi asked Compaoré to use his influence to press the rebels to return to Abidjan. But Compaoré said the solution to the Ivorian crisis had to be an "Ivorian" solution.
"Our contribution can only come as a support to any manifest good will. The Ivorians themselves have to find a solution to the crisis because, as you know, its causes have to do with nationality, identity, eligibility for elections and land," Compaore told journalists alongside Prodi.
"A close look at the content of actions that can be taken to solve these problems shows that Burkina Faso can only come in second position. However, in the interest of the subregion we are going to give it the needed support," he added.
Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema issued his own appeal for peace during a a brief visit to Abidjan on Friday, urging protagonists from both sides to put down their weapons "so that the country can regain the stability it had in the past".
On Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1514, extending the UN's Mission in Cote d'Ivoire (MINUCI) until 4 February, 2004.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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