The future of a crucial program to disarm fighters in Côte d’Ivoire was in jeopardy on Friday, with rebels backing away from the plan just hours after President Laurent Gbagbo announced its beginning was imminent.
Gbagbo on Thursday announced a December 15 start date for nationwide disarmament, meant to secure peace after a nine-month civil war. He spoke in the capital, Yamoussoukro, after meeting with rebel officials and peacekeepers deployed along a buffer zone dividing the government-held south from the rebel-held north.
But rebel spokesperson Antoine Beugre on Friday said ”it’s not been decided” when rebel forces will begin turning over their weapons to peacekeepers, describing the agreements reached in Yamoussoukro as ”only proposals”.
Beugre said no final decision could have been made at the meeting because rebel leader Guillaume Soro wasn’t present and ”wasn’t invited”. He said insurgent leaders would have to review the plan before making a final decision.
Rebels pulled out of a power-sharing government in September and simultaneously ended talks on disarmament plans, saying Gbagbo was not applying a French-brokered peace accord signed in January.
”We have to … come back to the government before we can disarm,” said Beugre. ”That has to happen first.”
The war in Côte d’Ivoire, a French colony before 1960 that was once the most stable country in West Africa, began in September 2002 with a failed attempt to oust Gbagbo.
Though the war was officially declared over in July, the country remains divided with rebels controlling the north and the government holding the south.
Disarmament is considered one of the lynchpins of a peace process that has foundered in recent months.
About 4 000 French and 1 200 West African troops are in Côte d’Ivoire to monitor a buffer zone between the two sides.
Gbagbo also said Thursday he would travel to Bouake, the rebels’ northern stronghold, in coming days to again announce the end of the conflict.
”He’s welcome here,” said Beugre, the rebel. ”But I don’t think anyone will be applauding.”
Other points announced in Yamoussoukro included the freeing of fighters held by both sides starting December 7, joint meetings in Bouake on December 10 and Abidjan on December 12 to iron out disarmament details and the disbanding of all checkpoints deemed unnecessary for national security.
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa producer, saw its reputation as a regional bastion of peace shattered with a 1999 coup. The country has been volatile ever since. — Sapa-AP