ICoast, Split in ICoast junta after raid on number two's house
   by Caspar Leighton

   ABIDJAN, Sept 20 (AFP) - Paramilitary police in Ivory Coast on Wednesday
searched the home of the junta's second-in-command, General Lassana
Palenfo,
two days after an alleged assassination attempt on the junta chief.
   The move points to deep divisions within the military leadership ahead
of
presidential elections next month, in which junta chief General Robert Guei
is
running.
   The search was part of the investigation into Monday's attack on Guei's
residence, the head of the paramilitary gendarmerie, Colonel Georges Deon
told
AFP.
   Deon refused to give any more details.
   Palenfo, the country's security minister since the military coup last
December which swept Guei to power, is currently attending the Olympic
Games
in Sydney, in his capacity as president of the Ivorian Olympic Committee.
   Palenfo is considered close to popular former prime minister and
presidential hopeful Alassane Ouattara, whose supporters have been
implicitly
blamed for Monday's attack.
   Palenfo was security minister under Ouattara in the early 1990s.
   Two presidential guards were killed in Monday's pre-dawn assault, but
Guei
was evacuated unharmed.
   The junta chief has described the attack as an attempt to assassinate
him.
   More than 20 members of the military, including members of the
presidential
guard have been arrested following the attack. Several of them are
supporters
of staff sergeant Ibrahim Coulibaly, who is close to Ouattara.
   Ouattara is at the heart of a fierce debate over his eligibility for the
elections, and could see himself barred on the grounds that he has used
Burkinabe nationality, under new regulations brought in by the junta
earlier
this year.
   Sources close to Palenfo said Wednesday that he was heading back to
Abidjan
after hearing of the arrest Tuesday of the head of his bodyguard, Major
Adama
Sidibe, but that he was unaware of the raid on his house.
   By late morning, regular police had replaced paramilitary gendarmes
deployed around Palenfo's house, according to an AFP journalist.
   A member of the general's family interviewed by AFP at the scene said
the
gendarmes had arrived at 6:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT).
   Four hours later, the junta's third-in-command, General Abdoulaye
Coulibaly, who is standing in as security minister, arrived at the scene.
   He said he "did not agree" with the raid on Palenfo's house.
   The government commissioner, Captain Ange Kessi told AFP that the
gendarmes
charged with investigating the attack on Guei's house were free to "go
ahead
with measures they deem necessary".
   Tension has been running at fever pitch between supporters of Guei and
Ouattara, and observers have long entertained the possibility of a split in
the junta over the Ouattara question.
   Palenfo and General Coulibaly are both regarded as being close to
Ouattara,
although both men have declared their loyalty to Guei.
   Wednesday's raid by the gendarmes suggests that Guei is not so sure of
Palenfo's loyalty.
   The emerging split at the top of the Ivorian military is a worrying new
development in a country that has grown used to squabbles and divisions
lower
down in the armed forces.
   There had been at least two army mutinies before Monday's attack.
   The junta held a referendum in July which tightened up the conditions of
eligibility for presidential candidates concerning their nationality.
   Ouattara's opponents accuse him of being a national of Ivory Coast's
northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, and thus ineligible for the top job.
   Ivory Coast's constitutional court has to rule by October 7 on the
eligibility issue.
   The junta number four, General Mathias Doue is also in Sydney in his
role
of minister of sport.
   crl/kc

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