BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, Sept 28 (AFP) - Mutineers in Ivory Coast who are
holding towns in the centre and north of the west African country are
highly disciplined, the blue berets of the regular army set at the correct,
rakish angle.
They are often bearded, but tight-lipped: just a few non-commissioned
officers are authorised to speak on behalf of the "movement", which they
insist has no political backing.
On September 19, in an uprising that caught authorities and diplomats by
surprise, they seized the central city of Bouake, and Korhogo, the biggest
town in the mainly Muslim north, and have since captured other northern
towns.
In Abidjan, the big city on the Atlantic coast, loyalist forces crushed
the mutiny at a cost of 270 dead and 300 wounded, according to the
government, but it did not specify how many of the casualties were on each
side.
One small but telling difference between the rebels and the regular
soldiers: the rebels do not beg cigarettes, or "sweets" (code for tips).
A man who arrived in Mali on Wednesday after passing through much of
northern Ivory Coast occupied by the rebels said they had had escorted the
mini-bus he was travelling in to the border "when they realised there were
children on board".
"They even filled up the vehicle with petrol and didn't touch a hair on
anyone's head," he added.
The children, from Mali, had been on holiday in Ivory Coast when the
uprising erupted.
In Bouake, where French troops evacuated more than 2,000 foreigners this
week, the rebels turned back terrified Ivorian civilians trying to leave,
telling them they would be safer there -- despite recent attacks on the
city by loyalist forces -- than in government-held Abidjan.
Christophe Pocquet, a doctor at the French consulate in Bouake who left
with the French troops, told AFP that the rebels were nevertheless treating
the locals well.
"They are courteous ... go around houses to see if the residents have
water, and sometimes distribute a little money and rice to the needy," he
said.
That appeared to be going down well with the civilians, who are
inherently suspicious of soldiers.
The government of President Laurent Gbagbo earlier said that former
military ruler General Robert Guei -- killed in Abidjan during the initial
fighting -- had been the leader of the rebellion, sparked by more than 700
soldiers demanding the reversal of a decision to demobilise them in
December.
Rebel Warrant Officer Tuo Fozie, who said he was the rebel commander in
Bouake, told journalists that Guei had had nothing to do with the uprising.
Neither had opposition figure Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister
who has taken refuge with the ambassador of France after charging that
security forces tried to kill him, Fozie said.
"Neither Guei nor Ouattara was behind us," he said.
"There is no political boss behind us, so far as I know.
"We are soldiers; this is not a political movement. We have demands ...
Guei seized power on Christmas day 1999, and ruled for 10 months.
He contested a violence-wracked presidential election in October 2000,
but lost to Gbagbo, after which a number of soldiers loyal to the general
fled the country.
The mutineers have demanded that all soldiers in exile be allowed to
return, and that those in prison be freed.
"We want justice," Fozie declared.
The government has also said the uprising was backed by a "rogue state"
in the region whiuch had sent in mercenaries armed with heavy weapons, and
the ruling party's newspaper fingered Blaise Compaore, the president of
neighbouring Burkina Faso, as the "mastermind" behind the rebellion.
The mutineers are armed with 12.7mm heavy machine-guns, 140mm mortars,
anti-aircraft guns, missiles and bazookas. They all carry AK-47 assault
rifles, and often a 9mm automatic pistol as well.
Those weapons, as well as impressive stocks of ammunition, came from the
Ivorian army, Fozie said.
The mutineers are also using requisitioned vehicles.
The rebels say they can no longer communicate by telephone between the
different towns they have occupied because the government has cut the
cellular network, but that they send messages back and forth by road.
---------------------
TRIPOLI, Sept 28 (AFP) - The presidents of Libya and Togo, Moamer Kadhafi
and Gnassingbe Eyadema, said they are opposed any foreign military
intervention to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast, and appealed to the
government and rebels there to agree to a ceasefire to end more than week
of fighting.
The two leaders "made an urgent appeal for the signing of a ceasefire
agreement by the parties to the conflict in order to spare lives and
provide the best suitable conditions to hold the forthcoming summit of the
Economic Community of West African States" (ECOWAS), they said in a joint
statement Friday.
Eyadema, who arrived in Libya on Thursday for a a working visit,
discussed the crisis in Ivory Coast with Kadhafi, said the statement,
carried by the Libyan news agency Jana.
It said they agreed that "everything possible must be done to preserve
peace in Ivory Coast because this peace is necessary for development in
this country and in West Africa."
But they emphasised "they reject any foreign military intervention in
the internal affairs of any African country."
Fighting broke out in Ivory Coast on September 19 after a group of
soldiers mutinied to protest their imminent demobilisation. The government
described the mutiny as a failed coup attempt.
On Friday the rebels held Bouake, the nation's second city, and a string
of towns in the predominantly Muslim north after confrontations which left
at least 300 people dead. Loyalist troops crushed the mutineers in Abidjan
after fierce fighting.
West African leaders are to meet in Ghana's capital of Accra on Sunday
to discuss the fighting.
Nigeria said Thursday that it had sent three jet fighters to Ivory Coast
as the vanguard of a possible west African intervention source, which
ECOWAS could choose to send to help the Ivorian authorities.
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