IVORY COAST: GOVERNMENT TROOPS AND REBELS PULL HEAVY WEAPONS BACK FROM FRONT-LINE AND PEACE MOVE TAKES HOLD

Record ID: 183487

  • Title: IVORY COAST: GOVERNMENT TROOPS AND REBELS PULL HEAVY WEAPONS BACK FROM FRONT-LINE AND PEACE MOVE TAKES HOLD
  • Date: 23rd April 2005
  • Summary: (BN11) NEAR BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (APRIL 21, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV STREET SCENE OF DJEBONOUA CHECK POINT; SLV UN OFFICERS WITH NEW FORCE SOLDIER 0.07 2. MV REBELS SOLDIERS PASSING NEAR WEAPONS INCLUDING 120MM MORTARS; SCU MORTAR (4 SHOTS) 0.23 3. MV UN OFFICERS GREET REBELS SOLDIERS 0.28 4. SLV CONVOY LEAVING DJEBONOUA CHECK POINT TO BOUAKE; CONVOY ON THE ROAD 0.41 (BN11) TIEBISSOU, IVORY COAST (APRIL 21, 2005) (REUTERS) 5. MV WEAPONS ON FLOOR SOLDIERS IN BACKGROUND; LOYALISTS SOLDIERS STRIP DOWN WEAPONS; SOLDIERS ARRANGING WEAPONS IN BOXES (5 SHOTS) 0.59 6. MV SOLDIERS CARRYING BOX TO TRUCK 1.08 7. SLV TANK LEAVING TIEBISSOU TO YAMOUSSOKRO; GOVERNMENT CONVOY ON ROAD 1.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TIEBISSOU AND NEAR BOUAKE, IVORY COAST
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Reuters ID: LVA88BOKY66ZYTFJ0WQINYFUS588
  • Story Text: Ivorian military and rebels pull heavy weapons back
    from the front-line and peace moves take hold.

    Ivory Coast's rebels towed canvas-covered rusty
    mortars away from a front line position on Thursday (April
    21, 2005), the first concrete step towards disarming civil war
    foes in the world's top cocoa grower.

    The weapons withdrawal, which on Thursday also saw
    government forces pulling back heavy weapons from forward
    positions, grew out of a peace deal signed by the West
    African nation's warring parties in Pretoria this month.

    The deal is meant to end a war that has split the former
    French colony, killed thousands and raised fears of
    regional turmoil.

    Two 120 mm mortars were taken from Djebonoua, south of
    the rebel-held city of Bouake and on the edge of a
    U.N.-policed buffer zone between the rebel north and
    government-run south.

    Rebel commander Dramane Soro, known as Sergeant Doctor,
    said the two mortars were the only heavy weapons at
    Djebonoua.

    "To get to peace, we have to go through this," he said.

    Ivory Coast slid into civil war after a failed attempt
    to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in 2002. A string of peace
    deals has so far been sunk by mutual distrust and flashes
    of fighting but the Pretoria accord has raised hopes of a
    breakthrough.

    The rebel New Forces and Ivorian army agreed on Tuesday
    (April 19) to withdraw all guns with a calibre of 20 mm or
    higher and canons and mortars with a calibre of 60 mm or
    above. Anti-tank rocket propelled grenade launchers were
    not included.

    The process is being supervised by the 4,000 French and
    6,240 U.N. peacekeepers stationed in Ivory Coast and the
    weapons will be grouped for inspection in eight sites in
    the rebel-held north and seven sites in the south.

    Ivory Coast was once a benchmark for post-independence
    prosperity but a coup in 1999 and civil war three years
    later shattered its reputation.

    A truce was agreed in 2003 but Gbagbo's forces attacked
    the rebel New Forces in November last year. French and U.N.

    soldiers eventually stepped in to stop the violence and
    South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was called upon to
    mediate.


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