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SLUG: 2-317051 Ivory Coast Talks (L-O)
DATE: NOTE NUMBER: |
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DATE=6/27/2004 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=IVORY COAST / TALKS (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-317051 BYLINE=SHIA LEVITT DATELINE=ABIDJAN CONTENT= VOICED AT: HEADLINE: Ivory Coast Rebels Will Not Attend Peace Talks INTRO: Leaders of the rebel group controlling the north of Ivory Coast are refusing to participate in peace talks President Laurent Gbagbo has called for this week. Shia Levitt reports from Abidjan. TEXT: Leaders of the rebel group the New Forces say they will not attend the meeting, describing it as the president's attempt to stall before launching a full-fledged war against them. The group is part of a coalition of seven rebel and opposition groups, known in Ivory Coast as the G-7. Rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate said Sunday the New Forces leaders do not think a meeting with Mr. Gbagbo will improve the situation in Ivory Coast. /// KONATE ACT /// "We think that by a meeting between the G-7 and Mr. Gbagbo, Laurent, we are not sure that one can find the solution to the problem because Mr. Gbagbo himself is the problem." /// END ACT /// President Gbagbo had invited the coalition of his opponents to a meeting this week in an effort to reconstitute his power-sharing government of national unity. The government, set up under a French-mediated peace accord last year, fell apart earlier this year when opposition and rebel groups walked out. They accused the president of failing to implement the peace plan. A spokesman for Mr. Gbagbo, Seri Bahy, said the talks will proceed even if the rebels do not show up. /// BAHY ACT /// "The question as to whether the president and the G-7 will meet, that is a fact. They have to meet. And they will talk because the government has to resume." /// END ACT /// The main opposition parties say they will attend the upcoming talks. Ivory Coast has been divided between a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south since a failed coup attempt on president Gbagbo in 2002. Several-thousand French and U.N. peacekeepers help maintain a ceasefire between the two. (SIGNED) NEB/SML/AWP/RAE |
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