ABIDJAN, 4 December (IRIN) - President
Laurent Gbagbo announced on Thursday that the disarmament of rebel forces
occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire would begin on December 15 and he
would travel to the rebel capital Bouake in the next few days to announce
a formal end to the country's 14-month civil war.
Gbagbo made the surprise announcement
after an hour-long meeting with government and rebel military commanders
in the official capital Yamoussoukro. Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and
top commanders from the French and West African peacekeeping forces in
Cote d'Ivoire also attended the talks, which followed four days of rising
tension in the government-controlled south of Cote d'Ivoire.
"I will announce in a few days the end of the war from Bouake so that all of Cote d'Ivoire and the world may know that Cote d'Ivoire is determined to go for peace," Gbagbo said.
Diplomats said they expected the president to fly to Paris shortly after his ground-breaking trip to Bouake for a meeting with President Jacques Chirac. They said Gbagbo would seek Chirac's support for a resumption of international aid to Cote d'Ivoire, a former French colony which became the most prosperous country in West Africa until it plunged into civil war in September last year.
A joint communique issued after the meeting in Yamoussoukro said the government and rebels would exchange prisoners of war on 7 December and begin the process of demobilisation and disarmament on December 15.
In a key concession to the rebels, who are officially known as "the New Forces," Gbagbo stated his commitment to implement a French-brokered peace agreement in its entirety. The president had previously expressed reluctance to implement some parts of the agreement, signed at Linas Marcoussis, near Paris on 24 January, saying it gave too much away to the rebels.
But Associated Press quoted Gbagbo as saying after the Yamoussoukro meeting: "I asked the prime minister to do everything possible to see to it that all of the text of Marcoussis be implemented as soon as possible."
The start of disarmament should pave the way for the government to restore its administration to the rebel-held north where most schools and health centres and all banks have been closed for the past year.
The rebels joined a broad-based government of national reconciliation in April, but pulled out in September, just before they were due to start handing in their weapons to French and West African peacekeepers. They protested that Gbagbo was dragging his feet over the implementation of key aspects of the Marcoussis accord and was refusing to delegate effective power to the coalition cabinet.
The rebels were represented at Thursday's meeting in Yamoussoukro by their military commander, Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko. A rebel spokesman in Bouake told IRIN that Bakayoko had been given clear instructions by the political leadership of the New Forces on how to handle the meeting.
Another rebel commander, Gaspard Dely, told IRIN by telephone from Bouake that Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration Committee would meet in the rebel stronghold on 10 December and in Abidjan two days later to begin working out a timetable for the cantonment of both government and rebel forces in special quartering areas and the surrender of weapons to French and West African peacekeeping forces.
"We are satisfied with what we heard this time round because it sounded like a head of state who wants to rule Cote d'Ivoire," Dely said.
He said the disarmament committee would also discuss the suppression of all unnecessary checkpoints in the country. These have become notorious cash generation machines for the security forces on both sides of the frontline.
The head of one major transport company in Cote d'Ivoire told IRIN earlier this week that lorry drivers undertaking the journey from Korhogo in the north of Cote d'Ivoire to the port city of Abidjan were forced to pay an average of US $500 to check points along the way, mostly in the government-held south. That equates to nearly one dollar for every km of the journey.
The apparent breakthrough in the peace process followed four days of rising tension in the government-held south of Cote d'Ivoire which began when 200 hardline youth supporters of Gbagbo attempted to march across the frontline to "liberate" Bouake on Sunday, accompanied by 100 Ivorian government soldiers. They were stopped in the demilitarised buffer zone between the two sides by peacekeepers forces who engaged in a fire fight with the Ivorian soldiers accompanying the militants and destroyed a tank.
That incident led to unidentified soldiers interrupting state television programmes to demand the sacking of the military chiefs of staff and an immediate resumption of war on the rebels.
Militia-style youth groups known as "Young Patriots" subsequently staged four days of demonstrations outside the French military base near Abidjan airport, demanding the departure of France's 4,000 peacekeepers from Cote d'Ivoire.
The crowd of several hundred demonstrators often threw stones and were repelled by tear gas.
However, the atmosphere became calmer on Wednesday afternoon after Charles Ble Goude, one of the Young Patriot leaders who is particularly close to Gbagbo announced that the demonstration should become a peaceful sit-in. He subsequently turned up with a mattress, sheets and a parasol to spend the night with his supporters outside the main gate of the base.
On Wednesday, the UN special envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, flew to Bouake for talks with rebel leaders ahead of the Yamoussoukro meeting. A diplomatic source said that at the same time Gbagbo received calls from several influential people, whom he declined to identify, urging him to show more flexibility.
A UN mission is currently in Cote d'Ivoire to evaluate the situation in the country and present a report to Secretary General Kofi Annan on how the modest UN mission to the country can enhance its role. France and several West African countries have urged the UN Security Council to send a fully fledged peace-keeping force to Cote d'Ivoire on the scale of those in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However the United States, which pays for 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping operations, has so far resisted such a move. The UN Security Council is due to reconsider the situation in January.
Diplomatic sources said Gbagbo himself had requested a force of 10,000 blue helmets for Cote d'Ivoire. There are currently 4,000 French troops and 1,400 West African peacekeepers in the country. They have successfully prevented fighting between the government and rebels for the past seven months.
[ENDS]
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