IVORY COAST: Prospects bleak for Ivory Coast peace process; Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny comments a ray of hope

Hundreds of loyal nationalist supporters of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, known as 'Young Patriots' cheered their leader Charles Ble Goude at this meeting in Abidjan last Friday (December 15). The crowd chanted slogans in favour of Gbagbo's government as various African delegations turned up in support of a meeting to spur on elections. Although Ivory Coast has been spared huge demonstrations and unrest, Ivorians always fear a break-out in violence is never far away. At Friday's meeting, Gbagbo vowed to do everything possible to ensure long-delayed presidential polls take place next year in the war-divided West African country. "I will do everything for the elections to take place, if at least to have a true government, and to restart the economy," Gbagbo told young supporters at a meeting in the main city Abidjan. But these words are nothing new. Gbagbo's constitutional five-year mandate expired in October 2005 but elections scheduled for then failed to take place. A second deadline in October this year was also missed. Recent attempts to build an affective government that would take over some of Gbagbo's powers have also been thwarted and relations between Gbagbo and his prime minister Charles Konan Banny, who was installed under a west African regional agreement, have soured. However, statements by Banny that the weekend brought a ray of hope. Banny said on Saturday (December 16) that he and President Laurent Gbagbo wished to put aside their public differences and forge ahead with the peace process. The two leaders engaged in a power struggle last month over the reinstatement of three senior civil servants who Banny had suspended after an inquiry concluded their negligence enabled deadly toxic waste to be dumped in main city Abidjan. Gbagbo has been kept on under the latest U.N.-backed peace plan, flanked by consensus prime minister Charles Konan Banny, who is tasked with organising polls and overseeing disarmament. But Banny has faced strong opposition from both Gbagbo and his followers, who are hostile to foreign efforts to restore peace. At his residence on Saturday (December 16) Banny told Reuters he was hopeful that there was still a chance of the two leaders working together to restore peace. "I would like to mention that, the relations between the chief of state and the prime minister, the two people charged by resolution 1721 with driving forward the process of coming out of the crisis at this moment in time, each on his part, it looks to me that the more the relationship is one of confidence in each other, the better it will be. It's better to work in an atmosphere of confidence in each other, isn't it," he told Reuters in an interview at his home in the country's capital Yamoussoukro. In 2005 the United Nations Security Council imposed a travel ban on three Gbagbo loyalists, seen as obstacles to peace, one of them the Young Patriots leader Charles Ble Goude. Speaking at the conference, Ble Goude warned the international community the situation in Ivory Coast could become much worse. "France needs to understand that this is a strong signal, which should bring the French rulers to reconsider the relationship with its former colonies. It should have another vision, avoiding crushing, humiliating or imposing, one should listen to the other, and take into account the other's point of view, otherwise we are running the risk of having more situations like Rwanda," said Ble Goude. The sanctions imposed were called under a Security Council resolution designed to punish individuals deemed responsible for obstructing the peace process, incitement to hatred or violations of human rights and the arms embargo imposed on Ivory Coast. Early in December, Gbagbo's decision to reinstate the officials sacked by Banny sparked country-wide protests, in which two people were killed by the Ivorian army. In an effort to appease the opposition parties and avoid further violence, the army's chief of staff General Mangou visited the headquarters of the Democratic Party. But crowds gathered to protest the killings shouted at the general: "Tell your soldiers to kill us, they should kill us too." Dozens of people gathered to watch the funeral of the last victim claimed by the ongoing crisis. The dispute between Banny and Gbagbo deepened after the U.N. security council adopted a new peace plan giving Banny more powers to lead the one-year transition to the new 2007 elections deadline. The plan tasks Banny with with leading a disarmament and reunification process and organising long-delayed presidential polls by end-October next year. Rebels have held the north of the country since a brief 2002-03 civil war. "As long as the country is not yet out of the crisis and as long as the confidence in me by the international community and those who are contributing in the search for peace still exists, as far as I'm concerned I am determined to pursue my mission, this is my determination," Banny told Reuters at his house in the country's capital Yamoussoukro . Around 11,000 U.N. and French peacekeepers police the buffer zone that roughly cuts the world's top cocoa producer in half. The U.N. Security Council on Friday (December 15) decided to extend the UN contingent and supporting French troops mandate in divided Ivory Coast until January 10. Although calm has largely prevailed in the last few months in Abidjan, the disarmament issue is still proving the crucial bone of contention, many people wishing an agreement between all key players would be reached. "People should put water in their wine (French saying to the effect that people should show more flexibility), should sit down and find a national consensus, come to a joint decision on a minimum number (of topics) and find a solid base before going to the true elections, if not, even next year there won't be good elections," said Moustapha Ibrahim, a taxi driver in Abidjan. In preparation for polls and to address a key grievance of the rebels, who say the war was born out of discrimination against mainly Muslim northerners, a scheme to provide people with identity papers is set to resume Monday (December 18). However some Ivorians think rushing the ID scheme without proper preparations is not going to solve the problem. "We can't hold Identity hearings without disarmament. These two things we cannot do concomitantly. We can't have elections without the ID hearings. We should have disarmament before the ID scheme, otherwise it won't work, it's not possible, it's unthinkable," said Olivier Rock Doudou, a businessman from Abidjan. An estimated 3.5 million people born but never registered in the country will be entitled to identity papers and eligible Ivorian nationals among them will later be able to register to vote in elections

ITN Source | December 19, 2006

Tags:. .unrest. .servants. .overseeing. .olivier. .expired