BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, Oct 17 (AFP) - Rebels in Ivory Coast signed a West
African-brokered truce and agreed to stop fighting by midnight Thursday,
reviving hopes for an end to a month-long conflict that rocked the region.
   The deal was signed by representatives of the rebels after a 90-minute
meeting with Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio; Mohamed Ibn
Chambas, the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS); and Malian general Cheick Oumar Diarra, another top ECOWAS
official.
   The agreement, signed four weeks to the day that the uprising broke out
on September 19, calls for an end to the fighting as of midnight, and
should allow the deployment of an "ECOWAS mechanism ... within the shortest
delay" to oversee the truce, Gadio said.
   The venue of the talks was the French high school in the central city of
Bouake, the headquarters of the rebels who have occupied half of Ivory
Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, since their uprising last month.
   Master Sergeant Tuho Fozie, who led the rebel delegation, said: "We have
accepted to sign this document which will surely in coming days bring us to
discussions to resolve a number of issues that we have been talking of
since the first day."
   The rebels say they want to oust President Laurent Gbagbo, reverse an
order to demobilise some 700 troops, and fight for the rights of Ivory
Coast's Muslim majority population who they claim have been marginalised.
   Neither the mediators nor the rebels divulged details of the agreement.
   The Senegalese minister told AFP the rebels had "given their word" to
respect the ceasefire but added: "There may be some skirmishes and some
slip-ups but that's human, that's understandable."
   ECOWAS executive secretary Ibn Chambas said the Ivory Coast government
had promised to cease hostilities if the rebels agreed to a truce, adding
that he was waiting for a formal announcement from the government.
   "The high-level heads of state and government contact group should hold
a summit on Tuesday, October 22, to accelerate the search for peace and for
an end to the Ivorian crisis by beginning direct discussions between
representatives of the government and the rebels," he added.
   Despite the pact, violence continued unabated Thursday in the central
cocoa capital of Daloa, which was retaken by government forces a day
earlier in their first major victory since the start of the uprising.
   Gendarmes and gangs of ethnic Bete youths attacked and pillaged shops
belonging to the mainly Muslim Dioula race, originally from northern Ivory
Coast like most of the rebel soldiers.
   They also burnt the house and car of a rich Malian merchant.
   Daloa's residents are mainly Dioulas and the predominantly Christian
Bete, President Gbagbo's ethnic group.
   In surrounding Bete country stretching up to Issia, about 50 kilometres
(31 miles) to Daloa's south and Gagnoa, some 100 kilometres (63 miles)
southeast, self-proclaimed Bete "patriots" armed with machetes and spears
set up roadblocks and hauled out "suspect" travellers to hand them over to
police.
   A traveller counted 45 such checkpoints over a 100-kilometre stretch. He
said shops along the way had downed their shutters, fearing violence.
   On Wednesday, five European countries -- Belgium, Britain, the
Netherlands, Portugal and Spain -- advised their nationals to leave Ivory
Coast.
   Diplomats said the advisory was issued for all nationals whose presence
was not deemed essential and stressed that the decision was taken by the
five countries individually.
   The United States had on September 26 advised its citizens to leave
Ivory Coast, a week into the rebellion which has claimed at least 400
lives.
   The United States warned Wednesday that a humanitarian catastrophe could
engulf Ivory Coast and spill over into neighbouring Ghana, Burkina Faso,
Liberia, Mali and Guinea, if the conflict led to a flood of refugees.
   "The humanitarian situation has gotten more complex over the last few
days and it is now beyond existing humanitarian systems to adequately
assess or address in several significant areas," State Department analysts
said in a report obtained by AFP.
   Immigrants, especially from Burkina Faso, have become the target of hate
attacks in Ivory Coast since the uprising began. The government has made
thinly veiled accusations that Burkina had fomented the unrest.

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

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]

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