Côte d’Ivoire Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said he knows who tried to kill him by firing rockets at his plane last week and it was not members of his own movement, local media reported Wednesday.
”It is an attack and we know who did it. There are traces, but I am not going to pre-empt the investigation,” he was quoted as saying during a meeting with his military chiefs on Tuesday in Bouake, where the attack took place.
Soro, a former rebel chief who became prime minister following a peace deal signed last March with President Laurent Gbagbo, refused to name those responsible for Friday’s attacks, which killed four people on the plane.
But he dismissed reports that members of his New Forces movement were to blame. ”It was not my military chiefs, because I know [their] methods,” he said.
Soro confirmed that the New Forces had arrested several people following the attack, but gave no more details.
”I know [those responsible] were sent there, they found a location and they camped out in the bush for two or three days,” he added.
The prime minister, meanwhile, confirmed he will return to Abidjan next week, where he intends to call a special meeting of government ministers.
On Monday, Soro called for an international investigation into the attack and for a halt to the speculation and recriminations that followed it.
The New Forces’ deputy chief of staff, Issiaka Ouattara, known as Wattao, accused the United Nations troops in Côte d’Ivoire of failing to secure the airport. They responded that the national authorities are responsible for airport security.
Meanwhile, the country’s press regulator urged Ivorian newspapers on Wednesday to spare the feelings of the families of those killed in the attack by not publishing publish ”shocking and degrading” photos of the attack’s victims.
The attack dealt a blow to the divided West African country’s fragile peace process, under way since the March deal was signed in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou. But the government has insisted it will uphold the agreement. — Sapa-AFP