South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating in the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, has called all sides to an ”urgent meeting” this month in South Africa, an Ivorian opposition party said on Thursday.
”This urgent meeting is to be held during the month of March,” though no specific date has been set as yet, said Amadou Coulibaly, an official in the Rally of Republicans (RDR).
Mbeki’s ”letter convenes all Ivorian political leaders to an urgent meeting for talks to find a way out of the crisis” in the West African state divided between government forces and rebels, where tension has been on the rise in recent weeks, Coulibaly said.
RDR spokesperson Cisse Bakongo said Mbeki had sent letters to President Laurent Gbagbo and exiled RDR leader Alassane Ouattara, who lives in Paris, among others.
Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo’s office, when contacted, however, could not confirm the report. An official said ”it had not been informed”.
Coulibaly said Mbeki wanted to discuss upcoming general elections planned for October, and the nomination of candidates for a presidential race in this former one-party state which has effectively been split in two since 2002.
Tensions rose in the one-time economic powerhouse of West Africa last November when government planes violated a ceasefire with strikes on rebel-held towns, sparking a wave of violence that culminated in anti-French riots in the main city of Abidjan.
The attack killed already faltering peace accords signed in France in January 2003.
Invitations to the ”urgent meeting” were also sent to rebel leader Guillaume Soro, whose backers control the north of the country, Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and to former president Henri Konan Bedie who heads the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), formerly the sole legal party, the RDR spokesperson said.
The 53-nation African Union in November appointed Mbeki, seen as neutral to the conflict, to try and broker a solution for Côte d’Ivoire.
Northern rebels said on Wednesday that Mbeki was due in Côte d’Ivoire ”soon” to resume mediation, after meeting with South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota in the northern town of Bouake.
Lekota, who made a 48-hour visit to Côte d’Ivoire, also met with Gbagbo and the so-called G7, a coalition of opposition parties and rebels.
Mbeki submitted a five-point roadmap or peace blueprint during a peace mission to Côte d’Ivoire in December that provides for disarmament and restoring a power-sharing government among other issues.
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer of cocoa, has been split since September 2002, when a military mutiny failed to topple Gbagbo but the rebels gained control of the northern half of the country. – Sapa-AFP