IVORY COAST: REBELS AND WEST AFRICAN MEDIATORS AGREE CEASEFIRE HALTING 15-DAY INSURRECTION

Record ID: 183506

  • Title: IVORY COAST: REBELS AND WEST AFRICAN MEDIATORS AGREE CEASEFIRE HALTING 15-DAY INSURRECTION
  • Date: 4th October 2002
  • Summary: (U7) YAMOUSSOUKRO, IVORY COAST (OCTOBER 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: YAMOUSSOUKRO AIRPORT 0.04 2. GV/MV: PLANE ARRIVING; VARIOUS FRENCH SOLDIERS STANDING AROUND PLANE; PEACE MISSION DELEGATES DESCENDING FROM PLANE (4 SHOTS0 0.19 3. MV: EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF ECOWAS MOHAMMED IBN CHAMBAS WALKING TO JOURNALISTS 0.24 4. MCU: (
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: YAMOUSSOUKRO AND BOUAKE, IVORY COAST
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Reuters ID: LVADC69HUPMJXY5HEHQO5HVXMFHQ
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast's rebels agreed an immediate ceasefire in
    their 15-day insurrection on Thursday at a meeting with West
    African mediators trying to end a conflict that has thrown the
    region into turmoil.



    Ministers from five West African countries sat down on
    benches with the rebels outside a school in their stronghold
    of Bouake after flying in aboard French military helicopters
    from the capital Yamoussoukro.

    "Our mission which was namely to achieve a ceasefire in
    the fight that they have been raging against the government's
    side. They have agreed to a ceasefire," said Executive
    Secretary of The Economic Community Of West African States
    (ECOWAS) Mohammed Ibn Chambas.

    Local commander Tuo Fozie, who led the rebel team, said
    talks would continue at a signing in the capital on Friday
    (October 4).

    "We want a stable Ivory Coast in which everybody is
    Ivorian and everybody is equal," said Fozie, from largely
    Muslim northern Ivory Coast, which has long complained of
    discrimination by southerners.

    President Laurent Gbagbo has said he is ready to agree a
    ceasefire, but the government is anxious not to accept the de
    facto separation of the country between north and south which
    it would imply.

    Prime Minister Affi N'Guessan told Reuters he was waiting
    to hear from mediators about the ceasefire before commenting.

    Bouake, the second city after coastal Abidjan, fell to the
    rebels on September 19 when their coup against Gbagbo failed.

    The rebels have said that if they gain power they will stage
    new elections after a short transition.

    Hundreds have died and thousands been displaced by the
    rebellion, exacerbating tensions in a country of 16 million
    people which has many different ethnic groups and in which
    tension between Christians and Muslims is easily stoked.

    The country is the world's largest producer of cocoa and
    the price of the commodity has shot to 16-year highs since the
    coup attempt threatened to disrupt supply.

    France has steadily raised its military presence in the
    country to more than 1,000 men, effectively slowing the rebel
    advance without direct confrontations while trying to help the
    West African mediators.

    Thousands of pro-rebel demonstrators in Bouake on Friday
    marched to within sight of French positions and chanted
    "French army get out, we don't want Gbagbo."
    France has kept close ties with Ivory Coast since
    independence in 1960 and about 20,000 French nationals still
    live here. France's Defence Ministry in Paris rejected rebel
    accusations it had joined the government side.

    Mediators from six countries, including Nigeria, are
    trying to end the crisis. But the foreign minister of
    Guinea-Bissau did not reach Abidjan in time to get to Bouake.

    Some in flowing gowns and some in business suits, the
    ministers sat down with rebels dressed for combat outside
    Bouake's French secondary school.

    Chief mediator Mohammed ibn Chambas said holding the
    meeting outside in a circle was in keeping with African
    tradition.

    The overall leadership of the rebels, who call themselves
    the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, remains unclear.

    Chambas said he had been assured that those negotiating on
    Thursday were acting on behalf of the rebellion's leaders.

    Fozie is an army veteran who fled into exile before being
    jailed in absentia for trying to kill a former military ruler.

    The government accuses the rebels of atrocities, although
    people in Bouake say they have generally tried to win its half
    a million inhabitants over.



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