Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo has expressed satisfaction after the West African nation’s warring sides agreed to end a ruinous civil conflict, as United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan urged all factions to honour their pledges.
Gbagbo sounded upbeat on his return to Abidjan late on Wednesday following the signing of the deal in Pretoria after four days of talks brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki — the African Union’s chief mediator in the crisis.
”From the moment when we have disarmament, for which we have a date, from the moment when it was affirmed that there will be elections in October … I know that I could have not hoped for better,” Gbagbo said.
Five Ivorian leaders on Wednesday pledged to put the former star French colony on the path to peace through disarmament, resolving a dispute over the eligibility of presidential candidates, and providing for the rebels’ return to a unity government.
The commitments were contained in the French-brokered Marcoussis accord signed in January 2003 — four months after an uprising against Gbagbo split the country in two — that the sides have repeatedly failed to implement leading to an impasse.
The accord, signed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel and opposition leaders, set out to resolve key issues that have dogged the peace process in the world’s top cocoa grower since the French-brokered peace pact.
These include disarmament of rebel forces and militias, starting with a meeting on April 14, and settling a dispute over citizenship requirements for candidates to the presidency, which was used to bar main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara from running the last time.
However, Gbagbo said a key sticking point — Article 35 of the Constitution, which stipulates that both parents of a presidential candidate must be Ivorian — was left hanging for the moment.
”We had different and divergent points of view,” he said.
Mbeki, meanwhile, said he will make a ruling on the issue after consulting the AU and the UN on the contentious Article, adding that the decision will be made in a week.
Gbagbo said the Constitution remains unchanged: ”If one changes the Constitution, one does it according to constitutional rules. I defended this point and prevailed. Therefore, the Constitution remains unchanged.”
Annan on Wednesday welcomed the ”successful outcome” of the Pretoria meeting but urged all ”parties to implement their respective commitments promptly and in good faith”, his spokesperson said.
France, Côte d’Ivoire’s former ruler, also welcomed the talks, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel Barnier saying that it could ”set the conditions for a definitive exit from the crisis”.
The accord was signed by Gbagbo; main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who currently lives in exile in France; former president Henri Konan Bedie; Seydou Diarra, consensus prime minister of a government of national reconciliation; and rebel leader Guillaume Soro.
Ouattara, when asked if he thinks this means he can contest presidential polls scheduled for October, said: ”It’s in President Mbeki’s hands.”
The Pretoria agreement also stipulates the return of the rebel New Forces to the reconciliation government and the reintegration of 600 former rebel fighters in the police and gendarmerie, and indicates that the next polls will be under UN supervision.
It also outlines a revamped independent national elections body that will be composed of members from all main political parties and the rebel New Forces. — Sapa-AFP