IVORY COAST: Ivory Coast factions hold peace talks in capital

Record ID: 182461

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Ivory Coast factions hold peace talks in capital
  • Date: 1st March 2006
  • Summary: IVORY COAST PRIME MINISTER CHARLES KONAN BANNY WELCOMING REBEL LEADER SORO GUILLAUME IVORY COAST PRIME MINISTER CHARLES KONAN BANNY WELCOMING OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER ALLASSANE OUATTARA ALLASSANE OUATTARA AND SORO GUILLAUME TALKING
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACW9LVAPYG4UX1MUM9ZHLJ6VNK
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast's rival faction leaders met on home territory for the first time on Tuesday (February 28) since the start of a three-year-old conflict, for talks aimed at reviving a stagnant peace process in the divided nation.
    President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel leader Guillaume Soro and opposition politicians gathered at a huge glass and marble conference centre in the capital Yamoussoukro under the protection of U.N. peacekeepers, government and rebel soldiers.
    The former French colony has been split in two since 2002, when rebels tried to oust Gbagbo and seized the northern half of the world's top cocoa grower.
    A buffer zone between the two sides is patrolled by a 7,000-strong U.N. force backed up by 4,000 French troops.
    Efforts to reunite the country, once a bastion of stability and economic success in West Africa, have been characterised by delays, political squabbling and on-off violence. Analysts say the factions lack political will to reach a settlement.
    Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, a central banker installed in December under a U.N.-backed peace plan, has promoted the talks as a means of unblocking the process.
    The last time Gbagbo and Soro met was in June in Pretoria, during South African President Thabo Mbeki's ill-fated attempt to lead foreign mediation efforts.
    The country's two main opposition leaders, former President Henri Konan Bedie and ex-Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, also attended the meeting.
    The talks are being held in Yamoussoukro, 250 km (155 miles) north of the main city Abidjan, at a complex which is home to a peace foundation endowed by the country's founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
    The meeting had originally been set for Monday, but Soro refused to turn up when the government opposed his request for French troops to attend the meeting to ensure his security.
    Despite international pressure, presidential polls due in October failed to take place as the rebels pulled out, saying Gbagbo would cheat.
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