Disgruntled soldiers seized control of Ivory Coast’s state television headquarters on Sunday, broadcasting demands that French and West African peacekeepers leave the war-divided country so armed forces can attack northern-based rebels in coming days.
Before soldiers peacefully ceded back control of the airwaves, an unidentified officer in a red beret also called on top military brass to step down in the nationwide address, but assured the public that the soldiers’ weren’t trying to topple President Laurent Gbagbo.
”Your army is with you,” he said. ”This is not a coup d’etat. It is not a rebellion.”
Despite an official end to Ivory Coast’s 9-month civil war in july, tensions are spiraling in the former French colony. Insurgents — whose fight with the army stemmed from a failed September 2002 coup attempt against Gbagbo — are boycotting a power-sharing government, accusing the president of failing to devolve powers in line with a France-brokered January peace deal.
Gbagbo says the rebels must disarm. Some 4 000 French and 1 200 West African peacekeepers guard front lines between the government-held south — which includes Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan and its state television headquarters — and the insurgents’ areas in the north and west.
Gbagbo’s loyalists have charged that France — Ivory Coast’s colonial master before its 1960 independence — is keeping armed forces from attacking and demolishing insurgents.
”Our men are telling the white people to leave the front lines,” said the officer.
”We have the means to fight … In 48 hours we will liberate our country.”
Witnesses outside the television headquarters said hundreds of paramilitary gendarmes and commandos from Ivory Coast’s army arrived late in the afternoon in armored personnel carriers and threatened to hold employees hostage if they were kept from broadcasting their demands.
The standoff ended peacefully after the security forces made their transmission and left the premises, the witnesses said. No arrests were immediately reported.
French army spokesperson Lt. Col. Georges Peillon said the day’s events were a setback in efforts to re-establish peace in the world’s top cocoa producer.
”It’s a declaration that is regrettable and deplorable,” said Peillon. It ”could spark a fire.”
Ivory Coast was for decades considered West Africa’s most peaceful and prosperous country. A 1999 coup shattered that reputation, and the country has been volatile ever since. – Sapa-AP