Senegalese president says Ivory Coast rebels will sign truce
PARIS, Oct 16 (AFP) - Rebels in Ivory Coast were ready Wednesday to sign a
ceasefire agreement, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said Wednesday.
"The foreign minister of my country, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, is heading
today (Wednesday) to the (central Ivorian town of) Bouake to sign an accord
with the rebels," Wade told AFP in an interview in Paris.
Gadio has already held several meetings with rebel soldiers in Ivory
Coast's second city, which they have held since they launched an uprising
against President Laurent Gbagbo on September 19.
The rebels have since taken control of about half the west African
country.
"But there's still a blockage over where the rebels will be encamped
after the hostilities cease," said Wade, who currently chairs the 15-nation
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and has drawn up a peace
plan in that capacity.
"President Gbagbo wants them sent back to barracks, but they want to
remain in town," Wade said.
The rebels, a force of former soldiers and of army mutineers, on Monday
abruptly called off any negotiations with the government, saying they had
credible reports that Gbagbo had got military support from Angola.
"I spoke to Gbagbo, he assured me that there are no Angolan troops,"
Wade said.
Luanda late Tuesday officially denied the presence of any Angolan
soldiers or military equipment in Ivory Coast.
------------------------------
Ivory Coast govt retakes cocoa town, mediator tries to revive peace talks
ABIDJAN, Oct 16 (AFP) - Ivory Coast government troops Wednesday
wrested a strategic town from rebels, as a Senegalese mediator tried
to revive peace talks and the US warned that the month-long uprising
could degenerate into all-out civil war.
Witnesses told AFP by phone that government soldiers had retaken
the town of Daloa, a gateway to the west African country's cocoa
growing region, on Wednesday after two days of fighting.
The rebels launched their uprising on September 19 and have
taken over half of Ivory Coast, which produces about 40 percent of
the world's crop.
The insurgency, which broke out just before the cocoa harvest
was due to begin, has pushed international cocoa prices to a 17-year
high.
Residents of Daloa said sporadic shots were still heard
Wednesday between the city -- some 380 kilometres (230 miles)
northwest of Abidjan, the economic hub on the Atlantic coast -- and
the nearby town of Vovoua.
Locals said paramilitary gendarmes and army soldiers were
patrolling the city and had taken up position at all the entry
points to reinforce security.
"The mutineers were taken by surprise and many fell in battle,"
a resident from the centre of Daloa said, adding that there had been
heavy fighting from Tuesday afternoon.
He said: "The government soldiers told us that all is well and
that the police and gendarmes will return in the afternoon."
Many residents said that several fighters on the government side
sported new uniforms and appeared extremely well-versed in warfare
although they said nothing, renewing speculation that Angolan troops
were fighting alongside government forces.
Other reports said many government fighters were light-skinned.
Angola has a significant mixed-race population.
The Angolan ambassador to France Assuncao dos Anjos told
reporters in Paris late Tuesday that Luanda "vigorously denies any
direct or indirect involvement" in the Ivorian crisis, sparked by a
military uprising on September 19.
"Angola does not have troops, arms, or military equipment in
Ivory Coast," he said, adding that Luanda followed a policy of
"non-interference" in the internal affairs of other countries,
"especially Ivory Coast."
Four Angolan armored transport vehicles had fought in the battle
for Daloa, and Angolan "technical advisers" had backed government
soldiers, another well-placed source said.
Two Angolan armored vehicles arrived Sunday at Abidjan's air
base, according to military sources, and Angola's state airline TAAG
flew a plane which could carry 120 people into Abidjan late Monday,
aviation officials said.
Under the long rule of president Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who led
the west African country from independence from France in 1960 until
his death in 1993, Ivory Coast was one of the staunchest backers of
the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the rebel
group which waged a 27-year civil war against the government.
President Laurent Gbagbo ended Ivory Coast's backing for UNITA
when he came to power in 2000. However, UNITA maintained its ties to
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast's northern neighbour, which has been
implicitly accused by Gbagbo of backing the month-long rebellion in
Ivory Coast.
Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio was meanwhile
hoping to revive ceasefire talks with the rebels in their central
stronghold of Bouake, Ivory Coast's second city, diplomats said.
Gadio had made several attempts to broker a truce after the
failure of a west African sponsored peace initiative, but the rebels
broke off negotiations over the alleged presence of Angolan troops
and equipment in the country.
Walter Kansteiner, the top US official for Africa, late Tuesday
urged President Laurent Gbagbo to be more "flexible" and make peace
with the rebels.
"There is the beginning of what looks like a serious civil war
where you have an armed rebel group (conducting what) is clearly not
just a weekend mutiny," the assistant secretary of state for African
affairs, told reporters in Washington after holding talks with
Gbagbo.
"It has potential for command-and-control and it is a serious
threat to ... an elected government ... that we want to support and
help resolve this," he said.
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