Ivory Coast rivals move toward talks on ending rebellion
by Griffin Shea
ABIDJAN, Oct 24, 2002 (AFP) - Ivory Coast moved a step closer Thursday to direct talks between the government and rebels controlling half of the west African nation, a day after regional leaders named a mediator and urged both sides to compromise.
A six-nation contact group, which is spearheading west African efforts to end the five-week military uprising, named Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema as coordinator the talks.
Mohamed ibn Chambas, executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said that the mediators hoped to make contact with the rebels "in the next day or two" once the insurgents name their representative.
"We've asked for the government to forgive certain transgressions, and on the other hand for the rebels to moderate their demands, so we can work to find common ground," Chambas told reporters after the group met here.
The contact group, whose meeting was also attended by South African President Thabo Mbeki as head of the African Union, made several calls for "compromise and sacrifice by all concerned."
No reference was made to Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's insistence that the rebels disarm, which they have refused to do, though they agreed to a ceasefire one week ago.
Rebel leader Sergeant Sherif Usman told AFP at their headquarters in the central city of Bouake that the choice of Eyadema as mediator was "a very good thing."
"We hope that he will lead the negotiations well and that Ivory Coast will get out of this crisis," Usman said.
West African military leaders are due to meet Friday in Abidjan to create their own peacekeeping force to replace the French troops who currently patrolling a buffer zone that runs through the center of the country.
Gbagbo asked France to monitor the ceasefire while ECOWAS countries assemble their own force to patrol the country, which produces 40 percent of the world's cocoa.
Since the ceasefire, French monitors have not reported any new battles, although residents in the cocoa capital Daloa have accused security forces of killing civilians suspected of supporting the rebels.
The government has acknowledged the killings, but blamed the deaths on unknown gunmen who were impersonating security forces by wearing military fatigues.
Meanwhile, France toughened its stance toward Ivory Coast on Wednesday, demanding that the government put a stop to anti-foreigner attacks following a violent anti-French protest in Abidjan.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin called on Gbagbo "to do everything possible to avert possible attacks by uncontrolled elements," deputy ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
Such attacks "could only compromise the task of maintaining the ceasefire, temporarily undertaken by our forces at the express request of the Ivorian authorities," Valero told reporters.
On Tuesday, French soldiers used teargas, stun grenades and water cannons to fend off protesters trying to storm their main military base in the former French colony.
Demonstrators then set up blockades on the main road linking the base and the country's main airport to the commercial capital Abidjan, and hurled stones at cars carrying foreigners.