- Title: IVORY COAST: IVORY COAST'S REBELS AND ARMY CHIEFS AGREE TO LAY DOWN ARMS
- Date: 14th May 2005
- Summary: (BN16) YAMOUSSOUKRO, IVORY COAST (MAY 14, 2005)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV SOLDIERS ENTERING CONFERENCE ROOM 0.04 2. LV OF MEETING ROOM 0.08 3. MCU FOUR MEMBERS OF REBEL DELEGATION 'NEW FORCES' ('FORCE NOUVELLE') ATTENDING CEREMONY 0.12 4. SLV SOLDIERS OF THE GOVERNMENTAL ARMY SITTING IN ROOM 0.17 5. MCU IN FOREGROUND, ARMY CHIEF PHILIPPE MANGOU (BLACK CAP), IN THE MIDDLE, NATIONAL DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE HEAD ALAIN RICHARD DONWAHI IN BACKGROUND, REBEL CHIEF OF STAFF SOUMAILA BAKAYOKO (BLUE CAP) SIGNING DOCUMENTS 0.21 6. MCU MANGOU SIGNING 0.25 7. CLOSE UP OF DOCUMENT 0.29 8. MCU BAKAYOKO SIGNING 0.33 9. MCU (French) ALAIN RICHARD DONWAHI, NATIONAL DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE HEAD, SAYING: "The operations of DD (disarmament and demobilisation) will run from June 27 to Aug. 10, 2005." 0.52 10. SV MANGOU HANDING OVER DOCUMENTS TO IVORY COAST PRIME MINISTER SEYDOU DIARRA 0.56 11. SV BAKAYOKO HANDING OVER DOCUMENTS TO DIARRA 1.00 12. SV DIARRA HOLDING HANDS WITH MANGOU (RIGHT ON SCREEN) AND BAKAYOKO (LEFT ON SCREEN) WITH CROWD IN ROOM APPLAUDING 1.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th May 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: YAMOUSSOUKRO, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVA4LD7ZKDTSDHK8QJ27LWLVLE17
- Story Text: Rebels and army chiefs agree to lay down arms.
Ivory Coast's rebel and army chiefs agreed on
Saturday that fighters would start laying down their
weapons from June 27 in a big boost for a revived peace
process meant to end a civil war once and for all.
"The operations of DD (disarmament and demobilisation)
will run from June 27 to Aug. 10, 2005," said a statement
signed by both sides after talks in the capital
Yamoussoukro and read out by national disarmament committee
head Alain Richard Donwahi.
Saturday's talks grew out of a peace deal signed last
month in South Africa and designed to draw a line under a
conflict which has split the world's top cocoa grower in
two.
"I am very satisfied ... I am hopeful for the future,"
army chief Philippe Mangou told reporters after the
agreement.
Rebel chief of staff Soumaila Bakayoko, who signed the
accord for the rebel New Forces, declined to comment as he
left the meeting but a member of his delegation voiced
optimism.
"We have decided to make peace between the two sides
and that is why we have signed," said Morou Ouattara, a
rebel commander in the east.
War in the West African country was ignited by a failed
attempt to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002.
A peace deal signed in January 2003 was never fully
implemented and the former French colony remains divided
between a rebel-held north and a government-controlled
south.
Prime Minister Seydou Diarra told the rebel and army
delegations at Saturday's signing ceremony that this time
there was no going back.
"The peace process is on an irreversible path," he
said.
The accord signed in South Africa in April has raised
hopes of a breakthrough in a conflict that has ebbed and
flowed, killed thousands and threatened turmoil in a
volatile region.
Both sides have already begun to withdraw their heavy
weapons from front lines, policed by 10,000 French and U.N. troops.
But
arms have been pulled back before and previous
disarmament deals have stalled without any weapons actually
being handed over.
The statement signed on Saturday said the next few
weeks before the planned start date would be used to set up
disarmament sites and identify the fighters to be disarmed.
These include shadowy pro-government militiamen.
The reintegration of former combatants into society
would begin in July and last until 2008, it said.
Donwahi said fighters would get 500,000 CFA francs
($960) to disarm and demobilise -- a hefty sum in the
region, which analysts said could draw in idle fighters
from neighbouring countries like Liberia, where the reward
for handing over guns is much lower.
Casting some doubt on the process was a confidential
World Bank report leaked to the media this week which
criticised the head of the disarmament body, saying his
management of the committee lacked transparency.
The World Bank is to pay nearly half of the disarmament
costs, estimated at 85 billion CFA francs ($164 million).
Previous disarmament attempts have foundered on mutual
accusations of cheating and several peace deals have
crumbled after sporadic bursts of fighting.
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