Leaders of Côte d’Ivoire’s main opposition parties and rebels on Thursday jointly rejected anew President Laurent Gbagbo’s attempts to extend his mandate beyond an October deadline set for elections.
In a statement at the end of talks, the country’s main opposition parties and the New Forces (FN) rebels controlling half of the country roundly accused Gbagbo of wanting to seize power.
The leaders ”denounce and condemn the intentions affirmed by the head of state … to confiscate state power without resorting to elections”, said the statement.
The meeting included the FN rebel leader Guillaume Soro, former president Henri Konan Bedie and ex-premier Alassane Ouattara.
The leaders at the meeting sought a common stance on the pre-election process and the contentious issue of when the president’s mandate should end, with just 10 weeks to go before a deadline to hold a leadership poll.
Leaders of two smaller parties — Albert Mabri Toikeusse, of the Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d’Ivoire (UDPCI), and Innocent Anaky, of the Movement of Future Forces (MFA) — also attended the talks at Bedie’s residence in this central town.
They ”firmly denounce and condemn the many obstacles to the peace process caused by the head of state” and again reject ”any idea of extension” of his mandate beyond the date fixed by the United Nations for the organisation of presidential elections, according to the statement.
The leaders said they wanted to see the UN-backed pre-election registration exercise of undocumented Ivorians continue.
The pre-electoral population identification scheme of about 3,5-million undocumented Ivorians has stirred major disagreements between the pro-Gbagbo camp and the opposition in the war-divided country.
Gbagbo has hinted he wants to stay on until the next elections. His mandate was extended last year by the UN as part of peace efforts after elections failed to take place because of insufficient progress.
The UN set October 31 this year as a fresh deadline for elections, but given the slow progress in the peace process so far, a further delay in the polls looks likely this year.
The UN is due to discuss Gbagbo’s mandate next month.
Côte d’Ivoire, once an economic powerhouse and bastion of stability in West Africa, has been split between a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north since a failed coup against Gbagbo in September 2002. — Sapa-AFP