The peace process in troubled Côte d’Ivoire is at a ”total deadlock”, an international working group chaired by the United Nations and the African Union announced on Friday after a meeting in Abidjan.
The group issued its warning three weeks before the February 1 deadline for the AU and the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to reassess the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, divided since 2002.
It blamed the impasse on the ”refusal of certain Ivorian parties to accept and apply Resolution 1 721” — outlining a period of transitional government leading up to elections — despite the efforts of AU mediators.
The stalemate could ”prolong the suffering of the population, aggravate political and social tensions and threaten to destabilise the West African sub-region”, the group said in a statement.
The pessimistic assessment comes as the AU and Ecowas prepare to report to the UN Security Council on February 1 on the application of Resolution 1 721.
It also coincides with political manoeuvres pointing to possible direct talks between President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leaders controlling the northern half of the country.
Gbagbo won support on Friday from the European Union for his proposal to hold direct talks, while the international work group said New Forces rebel chief Guillaume Soro had also indicated his readiness to participate.
The working group, which held talks with Soro on Friday, said he was ”disposed to accept the offer of direct dialogue” on condition that it would ”accelerate the application of Resolution 1 721”.
It also called on the Security Council to push the leaders of the AU and Ecowas to meet Ivorian leaders ”as soon as possible” to unblock the situation.
The council should also dispatch a ”mission” to Côte d’Ivoire to ”obtain firm commitments from the Ivorian parties to apply Resolution 1 721”.
EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid Louis Michel, on a visit to Abidjan, said: ”There is an urgency to unlock the current impasse.”
”The proposal for a direct dialogue by President Gbagbo can represent an opportunity,” he added.
Gbagbo’s proposal, made in December, has also won tentative approval from former colonial power France, whose minister for cooperation met the president for talks on Friday.
Côte d’Ivoire has been split into the rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a 2002 coup attempt against Gbagbo.
Two gendarmes and a border guard were killed overnight in an attack on a border post near Ghana, in the eastern part of the country, government and security sources said. Ten other people were injured.
The Security Council has threatened to impose sanctions against individuals deemed to be undermining peace and national reconciliation, committing human rights violations or obstructing the activities of peacekeepers.
Resolution 1 721 asked Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny to organise presidential elections by the end of October this year. — Sapa-AFP