ABIDJAN, 5 December (IRIN) - The
government army and rebel forces occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire each
withdrew from frontline positions close to the French-patrolled buffer
zone between them on Friday ahead of talks on disarmament next week.
Hardline youth groups supporting President
Laurent Gbagbo meanwhile ended four days of protest demonstrations outside
the French military base near Abidjan airport, where they had been demanding
the departure of French peacekeepers from the frontline so that government
forces could attack the north.
"We are provisionally leaving the gates of the BIMA [Battalion of Marine Infantry] as a sign of appeasement", Charles Ble Goude, the leader of the militia-style youth groups known as "Young Patriots," told IRIN.
But hopes of a more relaxed atmosphere in the West African country were put on hold by a series of clashes between police and gendarmes - both supposedly loyal to the government - in the commercial capital Abidjan.
Exchanges of gunfire were reported in at least three different parts of the city of three million people after a policeman was shot dead by a gendarme in unexplained circumstances.
Government officials contacted by IRIN declined to comment on the clashes. There is tradition of rivalry between the two forces and they have occasionally engaged in gunfights in the past.
On Thursday, Gbagbo met the rebel military commander, Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko, in the official capital Yamoussoukro, 220 km northwest of Abidjan, and the two men agreed that the long-delayed process of disarmament should start on 15 December.
At the same time, Gbagbo publicly committed himself to implementing in full a French-brokered peace agreement, signed in January.
Gbagbo, who had previously expressed his unwillingness to accept some aspects of the accord, promised to travel to the rebel capital Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire within the next few days to declare the 14-month civil war formally over.
Several news reports quoted the rebels' official spokesman, Sidiki Konate, as saying the agreement reached in Yamoussoukro had not yet been accepted by the rebels' political leadership.
However, Amadou Kone, a senior aide of rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told IRIN by telephone that the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," did indeed consider it binding.
"Altogether, we are in agreement with the spirit of the communique," Kone said. He confirmed that on 15 December, both sides would take a first step towards disarmament by removing unauthorised checkpoints.
However, Kone warned that it would still be some time before combatants started handing in their guns and returning to civilian life or going back to the army. "None of the modalities are in place. What to do with those who disarm? How and where will they disarm?" he said.
The Yamoussoukro accord brought hopes of ending an increasingly tense stand-off between the two sides since the rebels withdrew from a broad-based government of national reconciliation in September and froze plans to hand in their weapons.
However, Kone said the New Forces had not yet taken a decision on when to send back to Abidjan eight of their nine ministers, who withdrew from the coalition cabinet nearly two and a half months ago.
The French government issued a statement on Friday, saying the necessary conditions were now in place and the rebel ministers should return to government as soon as possible "in order to play a full part in resolving the crisis."
"I hope that we are on the right path but I can not guarantee it. France will do everything to prevent clashes in Cote d'Ivoire" French President Jacques Chirac said while on state visit in Tunisia.
Gbagbo is slated to travel to Paris on official state visit where he will meet Chirac.
Diplomats and military sources concurred with Kone that a timetable for demobilising and disarming up to 30,000 rebel fighters and returning government administrators to the north of Cote d'Ivoire, had still to be worked out.
They also warned that there could still be more hiccups to come in the peace process.
The sources said the disarmament process was likely to take several months and would probably require the presence of 10,000 foreign peacekeepers to supervise it.
However, they pointed out that there were currently only 4,000 French soldiers and 1,400 West African peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire who were fully engaged in patrolling the demilitarised buffer zone between government and rebel forces.
A UN assessment mission arrived in Cote d'Ivoire earlier this week to consider whether the United Nations should deploy a fully fledged peacekeeping force in the country, as demanded by France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The United States, which pays for 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping operations and has differences with France over the policy to be pursued in Iraq, has so far resisted such a move.
The military sources said that 17 cantonment sites had already been designated; nine in the rebel-held north and eight in the south.
The government army would simply stage a supervised withdrawal to existing barracks in the south, taking with it all weapons and equipment, they said. The rebels, on the other hand, would gather in demobilisation centres where they would hand over their weapons to be peacekeepers, they added.
That should take 30 days, but in practice, not all cantonment centres would open at the same time and the entire disarmament process was likely to take considerably longer, they added.
Government and rebel leaders are due to meet again in Bouake on Wednesday next week to thrash out an exact timetable for disarmament.
Ivorian military sources said government forces withdrew as planned on Friday from the village of Allangouassou, which virtually lies on the ceasefire line, 60 km from Bouake. It was the scene of a confrontation last Sunday between French troops and a group of 200 pro-Gbagbo youths backed by Ivorian government soldiers who tried to march into rebel territory.
"Before noon, as had been decided, our men left Allangouassou and returned to their initial position in M'Bahiakro", a senior army officer of the national army told IRIN. He did not say how many men had moved back.
A French military source said rebel fighters meanwhile withdrew on Friday from Bania, another village close to the frontline in eastern Cote d'Ivoire.
The next agreed step is for all remaining prisoners of war to be released on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the death of Cote d'Ivoire's founding president, Felix Houphouet -Boigny.
Government and rebel military sources said the government had released its remaining prisoners of war following the passage of an amnesty law in August, but the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," were still holding 44 prisoners.
[ENDS]
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