African leaders at a summit on Wednesday chose Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema to coordinate talks between the government and rebels in Côte d’Ivoire, which has been split in two by a month-long uprising.
In their final statement, the six-nation contact group charged with mediating in the crisis on behalf of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said both sides must accept the need for ”compromise and sacrifice by all concerned.
”They further called for the commencement of negotiations immediately,” the statement said, without specifying a date. The talks should include the ”identification and consideration of the grievances of the insurgents that are of a professional and political nature,” it said.
The contact group — comprising Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo — agreed on the urgent deployment of an Ecowas monitoring group, while stating their appreciation to France for deploying its own troops as monitors in the interim.
The closed-door talks lasted about three hours, gathering the heads of state of Togo, Mali and Niger, as well as South Africa as head of the African Union. Top government officials from Nigeria and Ghana also attended.
”The heads of state and government were emphatic on the need for the restoration of the authority of the government of Côte d’Ivoire throughout the entire territory of Côte d’Ivoire as essential for the return of order, normalcy, security and stability in the lives of the people living in Côte d’Ivoire,” said the statement.
The statement called on the ”belligerents to take measures to protect the lives and property of Ivorians and other nationals”.
The group ”urged all concerned actors in Côte d’Ivoire to commit themselves to maintaining the cessation of hostilities in order to faciliate the establishemnt of the necessary peace mechanism that would restore order and stability in Côte d’Ivoire”.
The government and rebels agreed to a ceasefire on October 17.
Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo asked France to patrol a buffer zone between the two sides, to monitor the ceasefire.
West African military leaders were due to meet on Friday in Abidjan to create the Ecowas force to replace the French troops in patrolling the buffer zone and monitoring the ceasefire.
After the summit rebel leaders said the African leaders chose well in naming Eyadema to mediate.
”The choice of his excellency the President of Togo, Gnassingbe Eyadema, is a very good thing because he is among the wise. He’s the longest-serving African head of state and we are going to benefit from his experience,” rebel leader Sergeant Sherif Usman told Agence France Presse (AFP). ”We hope that he will lead the negotiations well and that Côte d’Ivoire will get out of this crisis,” Usman said.
”Ecowas knows that we are fighting for justice, for freedom and for democracy. It’s out of respect for Ecowas that we accepted the ceasefire. We trust them,” he said.
Sources close to the negotiations said an Ecowas military delegation met the rebels on Thursday near Bouake, the central city that has become the rebel headquarters.
Meanwhile, Unicef on Wednesday handed over essential aid to help about 5000 people who fled to Mali from the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, press reports said.
The ”essential items” included mosquito nets, mats, soap and lamps, Unicef said, adding that they would be distributed immediately in the Malian communities of Zegoua, Loulouni, Sikasso and Kadiana, where most of the civilians from Côte d’Ivoire have gathered.
Unicef’s representative in Mali Pascal Villeneuve said the donation, worth about $23000, was aimed at ”relieving in the short term the suffering of displaced people”.
An AFP journalist reported from the border between Côte d’Ivoire and Mali late on Wednesday that the rebel soldiers were barring men from crossing the frontier in either direction, fearing ”infiltration” by loyalists.
One rebel soldier told AFP in the Ivorian border town of Pogo: ”From now on it’s out of the question for Ivorian men to cross or enter this way. Gbagbo wants these elements to infiltrate for an attack, we know it.”
Mutinous soldiers and former troops launched an insurgency in Côte d’Ivoire on September 19 and have seized control of about half of the world’s leading cocoa-producing country, mostly in the predominantly Muslim north. — Sapa-AFP