Ivory Coast’s main political parties meeting from Wednesday in Paris to try and end a 16-week conflict will not only have to bury the hatchet with rebels but also among themselves to ensure a lasting peace.
The fractious groups have the onerous task of looking ahead and forgetting a turbulent past which has seen their leaders killed, toppled, forced into exile or simply arrested.
As the political players sit with rebels to resolve the worst crisis in the country’s history which has split the once-stable and prosperous nation in half, the heaviest burden is on the ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party of President Laurent Gbagbo.
The FPI is expected to harp on its ”legitimacy” while trying to win over the support of the main political players in the fight against the rebels.
Gbagbo tried to make peace with the three other groups during long-drawn ”reconciliation” talks in 2001-2002 to exorcise past demons — a task easier said than done.
One of the main hurdles for the government will be to build bridges with the main opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) party, whose leader Alassane Ouattara was forced into exile a second time after the current unrest.
Ouattara, a Muslim from the Islamic-dominated north — a region under rebel control whose population is accused by the government of backing the rebels — had his home burnt after the September uprising.
The former prime minister was barred from presidential polls in 2000 won by Gbagbo on the contentious ground that he hailed from neighbouring Burkina Faso. But the government and the courts recognised his Ivorian nationality last year.
Ouattara, whose supporters say the 2000 elections were marked by a low turnout, has backed rebel demands for fresh polls. Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who will lead the ruling party at the French-brokered talks, said: ”We will defend our existence… We did not come to power in a magical fashion but through elections.”
The Paris talks could turn out to be an open confrontation between the ruling party and the main opposition group as the two other leading parties have said they will be attending more as listeners than speakers.
The Union for Peace and Democracy in Ivory Coast (UDPCI), backing former military ruler General Robert Guei who was assassinated on the first day of the September uprising, has said the Paris talks have to be marked by ”frankness, humility and a real solidarity” to come to any kind to meaningful conclusion.
The once-dominant Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) party, which ruled from 1960 till December 1999 when Guei staged the country’s first coup, said it was optimistic about the talks.
”The PDCI is pinning great hope on the process,” said PDCI’s deputy secretary general Alphonse Djedje Mady, adding that he hoped everyone would work to make the talks a success.
But he added: ”We are going to listen to the protagonists. After hearing them, we will give our advice.”
PDCI leader, toppled president Henri Konan Bedie, has kept a relatively low profile since the start of the crisis but many observers say he is quietly waiting for a chance to return to power.
The PDCI has said a pre-condition for successful talks is the ”security of people and their goods” both in rebel- and government-controlled zones.
Gbagbo, who adopted a bellicose tone when the rebellion started, has become more flexible now due to the abysmal performance of his troops and pressure from France and other countries.
He has offered a new peace plan including the formation of a new broad-based government and to review all laws that smack of ethnic or religious discrimination — one of the points highlighted by the rebellion.
But it is the growing recognition by the government that it cannot resolve the war on its own that may well lead to a meaningful dialogue in Paris. – Sapa-AFP