From the BBC NetWork Africa Programme - Tuesday  8 October 2002

Rebels and government forces in Ivory Coast are both claiming victory, after
a fierce battle for the second city of Bouake. There is confusion about who
is in overall control but rebels appear to have held on to the centre of the
city of 500,000.

The government launched an offensive on Sunday evening to try to wrench
Bouake from the hands of rebels and there was fierce fighting throughout
Monday.

After reports of clashes in the early hours of Tuesday, residents said the
streets were now quieter.

The battle began after the government ruled out signing a ceasefire, despite
hopes at the weekend that the two sides would agree a truce agreement,
brokered by West African diplomats.

Advance

Earlier, an army spokesman had told the BBC that the rebels fled northwards
during a government offensive, and soldiers are no longer meeting any
resistance.

But one of the rebel leaders, Sergeant Sherif Usman, told journalists in
Bouake that it was his forces who were in charge.

"The loyalists have fled and it is we who control Bouake," he said.

"They entered the city, then retreated because they took major casualties,"
he added.

For more than two weeks the city has been in the hands of rebels from the
Patriotic Movement, who control much of the north of the country.

Sergeant Usman, with his arm in a sling after being wounded during the
fighting, said that rebel reinforcements had arrived.

"We are preparing an offensive, it's the strategy we shall adopt from now
on," Sergeant Usman said.

He said the rebel fighters would head south "with vehicles and heavy
weapons".

Dignity

The latest violence broke out after the government launched an offensive
rather than signing a ceasefire brokered by West African negotiators.

However, Communications Minister Serri Bailly said if they could retake
Bouake then the government might be in a position to sign an agreement.

The minister said with Bouake under their control, they would no longer be
approaching negotiations humiliated and without dignity.

The rebels have been calling for the overthrow of President Gbagbo and for
fresh elections in which all political parties would be allowed to
participate.

Many of the rebels come from the largely Muslim north of the country and
have long complained of discrimination by Christian southerners.

The former colonial power, France, sent in extra troops to evacuate
Westerners and has recently begun providing technical and logistical support
to government forces.




_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~