Fighting flared in Ivory Coast’s volatile southwest on Thursday, breaching fresh pledges from all sides to halt hostilities in the nearly 4-month-old war to allow for peace talks in Paris.
The government and a western rebel group traded blame for the new fighting in the West African nation, the world’s largest cocoa producer.
Sergeant Felix Doh, leader of a western rebel faction, claimed government helicopter gunships attacked his forces on Thursday morning at the town of Grabo, near the Liberian border. He did not have information on casualties.
A southwestern army commander said the rebels attacked first, firing on government positions late on Wednesday and early Thursday at Olodio village, 20 kilometres south of Grabo.
Government forces pushed the insurgents back to Grabo, said the colonel, who gave his name only as Gobi. But he denied helicopters were used in the fighting. At least one loyalist soldier was injured and several insurgents killed, he said. French soldiers stationed at Pont-Yaka village confirmed fighting at Olodio, 30 kilometres to the north, but had no information about clashes at Grabo.
The fighting came despite promises by all sides to try to resolve the war that has crippled the former French colony -‒ a regional economic powerhouse and once one of West Africa’s most stable nations. Rebels began the campaign in September to try to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo.
Under pressure from France, the government and main northern rebel movement agreed last weekend to respect a repeatedly violated ceasefire and attend a peace summit slated for January 15 in Paris.
The two western rebel factions never agreed to the ceasefire signed in October. But French Ambassador Gildas le Lidec secured promises from them on Wednesday to suspend hostilities and take part in the talks.
West African mediators were expected to meet with the western factions on Saturday about joining the northern rebels in signing a formal, countrywide ceasefire.
”I am beside myself that this morning — Gbagbo ordered his forces to bomb us,” Doh said.
He said he had reported the attack to the French army, which has more than 2 000 troops in Ivory Coast to enforce the shaky ceasefire and protect foreign nationals. But he said he still planned to attend Saturday’s meeting.
”For the moment, I am putting my trust in the French,” he said. In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry urged combatants to respect their pledges to stop the fight to allow for peace talks.
”France stresses the urgency of effectively implementing a ceasefire across all of Ivory Coast,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Gbagbo representative Toussaint Alain blamed Liberian fighters, who have joined rebel ranks in the coffee and cocoa-rich West, for the new clashes.
He said government forces would have reacted in Grabo only in response to ”savage attacks” by the Liberians, who are widely feared for lawlessness, extreme violence and drug use.
But he said the government still wanted to meet with all sides in Paris. ”The peace talks must at all costs be saved … We want everyone to be at the table so that we can know what it is they reproach the president for,” Alain said.
Alain also expressed hope that neighbouring Liberia and Burkina Faso would attend to answer government allegations they are supporting the rebellion. The two countries deny any involvement.
French forces rushed reinforcements on Thursday to their westernmost position at Pont-Yaka, including armoured personnel carriers with mounted cannons, to block any rebel advance. ”If they were to come, they’d come this way. This is the main way through,” said French Lt. Benoit Suire.
The western rebels recently opened a new front in the war, pushing south toward the key coastal port of San Pedro. They have repeatedly clashed with French forces, most recently on Monday when 30 insurgents were killed and nine French soldiers injured in gunbattles near the western town of Duekoue.
Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in the war, which began with the northern rebels trying to oust Gbagbo in a September 19 coup. The western factions emerged in November. All the rebels accuse the southern-based government of fanning ethnic hatred.
Gemmo Lodesani, head of the World Food Program’s emergency operation in Ivory Coast, expressed concern on Thursday for Liberian refugees around the southwestern coastal town of Tabou, 55 kilometres south of Grabo.
”The local people see the refugees as the cause of all their problems and the insecurity,” he told reporters in the southern commercial capital, Abidjan.
There have also been reports of Liberian refugees being recruited by both the Ivorian army and insurgents.
In a statement on Thursday, WFP said 400 000 people had fled fighting in Ivory Coast’s central and northern regions, while 60 000-100 000 had fled the western region, seeking refuge in government-held areas to the south and east.
Around 140 000 mainly west African migrants had also crossed into Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali, the statement said. – Sapa-AP