War-divided Côte d’Ivoire announced a 32-member unity government that includes rebel, opposition party and ruling party ministers and represents a rare firm step toward reconciliation.
Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, named earlier this month after international mediators persuaded both warring sides to accept him, chose the Cabinet, which was announced on Wednesday by President Laurent Gbagbo’s office.
Rebel leader Guillaume Soro was named minister of reconstruction, which is the second highest position after Banny, according to an official protocol released to reporters.
Soro was not seen in the Cabinet chambers as Gbagbo read out a decree accepting the Cabinet. Rebel officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
Gbagbo loyalists were also among the new officials, including top presidential ally Antoine Bohoun Bouabrae as minister of planning and development.
The powerful minister of defence, who controls Côte d’Ivoire’s army, is Rene Kwasi Aphing, who belongs to neither camp.
Human rights groups have accused soldiers and other security force members of targeted killings of suspected opposition supporters and rebel sympathisers.
Côte d’Ivoire slid into civil war after a failed September 2002 attempt to oust Gbagbo, with insurgents taking control of the north and government forces controlling the rich south of the world’s largest cocoa exporter.
Despite numerous peace deals, the country remains divided. Earlier transitional governments have failed, rebels and government-allied militias remain armed and 10 000 United Nations and French peacekeepers patrol front lines.
Gbagbo’s mandate expired on October 31, but he said the Constitution granted him powers to extend it for one year in order to reorganise elections that failed to materialise this year.
Rebels said he is no longer Côte d’Ivoire’s legitimate leader, but by joining his Cabinet they’re signaling a fresh desire to engage in the political process.
South African, Nigerian and other mediators have worked to get Côte d’Ivoire’s peace process back on track and Wednesday’s announcement represented a rare moment of accord among Côte d’Ivoire factions. – Sapa-AP