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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
COTE D'IVOIRE: Rebel delegation meets Prime Minister
ABIDJAN, 10 December 2003 (IRIN) - Ivorian rebel leaders who met the Prime Minister Seydou Diarra in the commercial capital, Abidjan, on Wednesday discussed the return of the rebels who control the northern half of the country into the government of national unity, diplomatic sources said.
The rebel delegation, led by a senior official of the "New Forces" Louis-Andre Dakoury-Tabley, flew into Abidjan in the morning as their colleagues in Bouake, the rebel capital, met a delegation of the Ivorian army.
Amadou Kone, a member of the rebel delegation in Abidjan declined to comment on what was discussed with Diarra. The Prime Minister had already met the rebels on Saturday at their headquarters in Bouake, 379 km north of Abidjan.
Sources said the meeting in Bouake between the Armed Forces of Cote d’Ivoire and the military wing of the rebels would map out a calendar for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of combatants.
The Bouake meeting followed a resolution agreed at a meeting held last week in the capital Yamoussoukro, during which President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebels agreed to begin the DDR process on Monday.
Diplomats however said it was unlikely that the DDR process would start on Monday. But according to the meeting’s final communiqué, the removal of unnecessary checkpoints would begin on 15 December as the first step towards DDR.
The rebels, who have come under intense pressure from heads of West African states, the United Nations and ECOWAS to return to Abidjan, told the UN special envoy, Carolyn McAskie on Tuesday that they were wiling to discuss a return to Abidjan.
Sources told IRIN that the rebels had been on the verge of returning to government last week, but demonstrations by pro-government youths against the rebels and French forces separating the two warring groups, in Abidjan and the central town of M’Bahiakro, scared the rebels.
On the last day of a three-day mission, McAskie said it was important for the rebels to return to Abidjan so that peace can return to the war-torn country.
"Leave the past behind, return to the government table to (re) construct the country," McAskie told a news conference after meeting on Tuesday with rebel leader, Guillaume Soro.
McAskie told reporters that events in recent days, particularly a recent meeting in Yamoussoukro, had renewed her hopes and that it was time for "all political leaders to show their political leadership by following the population in its willingness to seek peace."
The rebels pulled out of a government of national unity created in January on 23 September, citing lack of security for their ministers and slowness in implementing a peace agreement signed in January in France.
Cote d'Ivoire erupted in conflict on 19 September 2002 when soldiers attempted to topple Gbagbo. The soldiers retreated and seized control of the north and west of the country, setting up their headquarters in Boauke. The country has since remained divided.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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