ABIDJAN, Oct 9 (AFP) - New Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo Thursday
appealed for reconciliation at a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of
bloodshed following a controversial presidential poll, while mourners
chanted his name and booed out opposition politician Alassane Ouattara.
   "I call for the nation to be reconciled with itself," Gbagbo told an
estimated 10,000 people at the ceremony in Abidjan's Houphouet-Boigny
stadium, called to remember scores of "martyrs for democracy" killed late
last month.
   "We must make a solemn pledge not to give in to bitterness or spite...
let us honour those who fought without hatred, those who died in fighting,"
he said.
   "The history of a nation is made up of trials and crises like the one
that Ivory Coast has just been through," Gbagbo said, after placing a wreath
on the single coffin covered with the national flag and placed at the centre
of the arena.
   But the mourning ceremony took on the flavour of a political meeting as
thousands of the new president's young supporters chanted his name, having
earlier booed out Ouattara, a former prime minister.
   Violence between Gbagbo's supporters and those of Ouattara, who was
barred fron standing in the poll, which was organised by a military junta
which seized power in a coup last December, killed at least 100 people last
month.They died after a mass uprising which forced junta leader General
Robert Guei to admit defeat at Gbagbo's hands at the polls and stand down.
At least 50 people are believed to have been killed in those clashes.
   Some 171 people are officially reported as having been killed in clashes
following the October 22 election.
   Much of the ethnic violence, which saw mosques and churches burned,
pitted people from the mainly Christian south -- Gbagbo's home territory --
against those from the largely Muslim north of the west African country,
which has a large immigrant population and is where Ouattara comes from.
   On his entry into the arena Ouattara was greeted with members of the
crowd chanting: "Mossi, get out!" He left the stadium through a side door at
the end of the ceremony, saying only he hoped there would be a "real
reconciliation". Gbagbo called for honour to be done to those "who fought
without hatred, honour to those who died while fighting. Glory to the
martyrs of democracy," he added.
   "Death has no party, it has no religion and it comes from no particular
region," he said.
   He spoke out against the "thirst for power" which he said had led to the
violence.
   "A death is a death and the madness that drove young people out into the
streets following the swearing-in is the same madness that led (people) to
shoot on young people," he said.
   Ouattara's supporters had wanted the elections to be rerun, but his party
has now reluctantly recognised him as head of state, while refusing to take
part in the government ahead of a general election due on December 10.
   Gbagbo said there would not be new elections. "There are rumours which
are as useless as they cause trouble, but I want to say that here in Ivory
Coast we will not rewrite the constitution and we will not rerun the
presidential election. Let that be clear," he said.
   He warned against "plotters" who could get involved in "stupid things."
   Ouattara, leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), was barred from
running in the poll by a controversial Supreme Court ruling on the grounds
that he was partly Burkinabe or had used Burkinabe nationality to further
his career.
   Media backing Ouattara have accused the new, predominantly FPI
government,  of seeking to "recuperate" the victims of the violence for
political ends.
   Gbagbo renewed promises to let judicial inquiries into last month's
violence pursue their work. Gbagbo also said he hoped there would be a
reconciliation between the army and the people, following the last 10 months
under military rule.
   Many of the security forces were reported to have fought alongside Gbagbo
supporters against Ouattara supporters.
   The new president told the crowds that the designation of a new military
hierarchy would be "a signal to show you that the army and the gendarmerie
can protect you, must protect you... and they must be impartial."
   so-fp/kc/sas

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