/ 10 October 2000

IVORIAN ROAD DEATHS FUEL GUEI RUMOURS

IVORY Coast’s junta leader, General Robert Guei, is said to be alive and well after rumours circulated in Abidjan that he had been involved in a serious road accident. Sources said three paramilitary gendarmes had died and a dozen were injured in a road accident after they had been on presidential security duty along a main road that Guei’s convoy had taken earlier. Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city, is awash with rumours in the run-up to a presidential election on October 22, in which Guei is a candidate. – Reuters