ICoast-army,lead
   Ivory Coast second in command returns home

   ABIDJAN, Sept 21 (AFP) - The Ivory Coast junta's second-in-command
General
Lassana Palenfo returned home Thursday evening the day after his house was
searched by security forces, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
   Palenfo arrived in Abijdan from Paris after travelling from the Sydney
Olympics where he had been in his capacity as president of the Ivorian
Olympic
Committee.
   He left the airport amid heavy security and was headed home according to
sources close the general.
   On Wednesday morning the paramilitary Gendarmerie searched Palenfo's
house
as part of the inquest in to Monday's armed assault on the residence of
junta
boss, General Robert Guei.
   Palenfo was unaware of the raid on his house when he left Sydney, his
early
return being prompted by the arrest of the head of his bodyguard, Major
Adama
Sidibe, also as part of the inquest into Monday's attack, which Guei
described
as an assassination attempt.
   Palenfo is considered close to former prime minister Alassane Ouattara,
who
like Guei is a candidate in presidential elections set for October 22.
   The attack on Guei's Abidjan residence has been blamed on members of the
presidential guard.
   Around twenty of them belonging to a group known as "Cosa Nostra" and
considered close to Ouattara have been arrested since the attack.
   Some of them were trying to leave the country when they were arrested.
   omj-so/crl/rmb

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