Hopes for peace in Ivory Coast rose on Saturday after France agreed its troops would help keep a ceasefire, but fears of instability persisted and the United States ordered non-essential embassy staff to leave.
Mutineers and ex-soldiers who control most of the northern half of the country agreed to a truce because west African mediators had convinced them that they could achieve their goals through negotiations, rebel leader Sergeant Sherif Usman said late on Friday in their central stronghold of Bouake.
”It’s so that peace can return to Ivory Coast, that’s why we agreed to sign this accord, because we have the human and material resources to carry on with combat,” said Usman.
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo also agreed to a truce late on Thursday, clearing the way for talks that could start next week. France, Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler, on Friday agreed to a request by Gbagbo to provide troops to patrol a buffer zone between the rebel-held northern regions and the government-controlled areas until the arrival of a west African peacekeeping force.
French President Jacques Chirac said the French troops would also provide ”logistical” support to the west African troops if they called for it. ”I cannot imagine the partition of Ivory Coast,” he said in an interview given to Radio France Internationale and the TV5 television channel.
But the United States ordered non-essential diplomats and the families of embassy employees to leave Ivory Coast on Friday, saying the situation was still ”volatile” despite the truce in a month-long rebel uprising.
”The situation in the country remains volatile … and so we’re taking what we think is a prudent step to move to what is called an ordered departure status,” State Department representative Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington.
The United Nations has warned of a regional catastrophe if Ivory Coast fails to pull back from civil war, especially if violence sparks a refugee exodus. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been displaced within the country, and at least 400 were killed in the uprising.
Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, the leader of the rebels’ political wing, Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI), said Friday the insurgents would not disarm.
”We will not lay down our arms. We will continue the war of liberation against the fascist regime of Laurent Gbagbo,” he said.
The rebels have said they want to oust Gbagbo, reverse an order to demobilise some 700 troops, and fight for the rights of Ivory Coast’s Muslim majority population who they claim have been marginalised.
The rebels aim to set up an interim government for eight months with a leader chosen by ”civil society” and political parties, whose key role would be to organise ”free, democratic and historic elections”.
South African President Thabo Mbeki welcomed the truce but hoped that ”the signatories to the truce will observe it in letter and spirit,” said presidential representative Bheki Khumalo.
Gbagbo, who in just a few days will mark the second anniversary of his election to power, on Thursday said he had chosen the path of dialogue because there ”has been a lot of useless damage” already.
The uprising in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, had helped send cocoa prices to touch 17-year highs, but news of the truce saw prices ease. – Sapa-AFP