Ivory Coast’s powerful first lady Simone Gbagbo was on Tuesday quoted as saying that she has finally accepted a French-mediated peace deal to end a five-month rebel war that gives rebels seats in a new unity government.
”I have said that the text (of the accord) is bad and I will say it again,” she said in an interview to the Fraternite Matin daily.
She pointed out, however, that her husband had accepted the accord as ”medicine” which according to her ”is to say that it’s bad but one must accept it to try to build peace.”
Simone Gbagbo, who wields tremendous influence in the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) ruling party said she still opposed the entry of rebels in a power-sharing government ”but if it is the price of peace we are obliged to accept and pray to God that all goes well.”
Insurgent leader Guillaume Soro reiterated at the weekend that his main rebel group would not join the government unless it was given the interior and defence ministries, which the rebels claimed they were promised under the French accord.
Those claims have enraged youth supporters of the government, and the army and four of Ivory Coast’s political parties have also opposed the rebels’ claim to the key posts. – Sapa-AFP