IVORY COAST: REBELS AND WEST AFRICAN MEDIATORS AGREE CEASEFIRE HALTING 15-DAY INSURRECTION
Record ID:
183506
IVORY COAST: REBELS AND WEST AFRICAN MEDIATORS AGREE CEASEFIRE HALTING 15-DAY INSURRECTION
- 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: (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF ECOWAS MOHAMMED IBN CHAMBAS SAYING: "We have told them that the contact group is a group of ministers who have been selected by the sub-regional organisation ECOWAS to negotiate, to use dialogue, to solve this crisis and they have indicated their preparedness to meet with the ministers and to accept the process of dialogue and negotiation." 0.46 5. GV/MV: DELEGATION WALKING TO HELICOPTER; ENTERING HELICOPTER (2 SHOTS) 0.54 (W7) BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (OCTOBER 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. GV: IVORY COAST REBELS ARRIVING IN A PICK-UP TRUCK FOR TALKS WITH NEGOTIATORS FROM THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 1.00 7. MV: CUTAWAY FRENCH SOLDIER AT MEETING 1.04 8. MV/GV/PAN: REBEL LEADER TUO FOZIE MEETING WITH ECOWAS DEPUTY EXECUTIVE-SECRETARY DIARRA CHEICK OMAR; VARIOUS REBELS AND NEGOTIATORS SITTING DOWN FOR TALKS (4 SHOTS) 1.40 (U7) BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (OCTOBER 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. MV: ECOWAS NEGOTIATORS WALKING SOME STEPS TOWARDS JOURNALISTS AFTER THE MEETING 1.46 10. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF ECOWAS MOHAMMED IBN CHAMBAS SAYING: "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." 2.05 11. MCU: CUTAWAY OF JOURNALIST AND A SOLDIER WALKING 2.08 12. CU/GV: (SOUNDBITE) (French) REBEL LEADER TUO FOZIE SAYING: "I repeat we have agreed a ceasefire from now." (CUTAWAY OF TUO FOZIE TALKING TO JOURNALISTS) FOZIE SAYING: "We want a stable Ivory Coast, a democratic Ivory Coast, a clean Ivory Coast, for all who are Ivorians." (3 SHOTS) 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- 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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