ABIDJAN, Oct 22 (AFP) - Imam Idrissa Koudouss, president of the National Islamic Council in Ivory Coast, has vowed to do everything possible to avoid letting the month-long military uprising degenerate into an ethnic and religious war. "We Ivorians were not expecting this, especially our Muslim community... which is paying a heavy price" in the crisis, he told AFP in an interview Monday. "Our concern is the same as everyone's -- that this war could turn into an ethnic war, or a religious war. You have what happened in Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia. When a war becomes an ethnic or religious war, you cannot stop it. That's my big fear," he said. Koudouss said the situation in Daloa was especially troubling. The town, the capital of the western cocoa-growing region, was recaptured by loyalist forces last week after three days under rebel control. "Monday morning, I was informed that Daloa's local authorities made a report yesterday about the burial of 56 Muslims who had been shot dead by security forces. Nineteen bodies are still in the streets today," he said. "With each incident like this, I call President (Laurent) Gbagbo and I inform him of it. If security forces, who should protect people and make them safe... kill part of the population on the basis of ethnicity or religion, that's serious," the imam said. Gbagbo has asked the paramilitary gendarmes to give him a report on the incident by Tuesday, according to Koudouss. Since the uprising began on September 19, Muslims and certain ethnic groups and nationalities have suffered hate attacks. The rebels have cited persecution of Muslims as among the reasons for their uprising. "We're asking the authorities to spare the Muslim community, which has never posed a security threat to the state since the Ivory Coast's birth. Even president Houphouet Boigny publicly apologized to our community for having done wrong by us." "If the mutineers are rebelling, our community shouldn't have to pay for that," he said. The imam plans to create his own mediation committee, which will include representatives from all religions and from human rights groups, to work toward ending ethnic and religious hatred in Ivory Coast. He hopes to win Gbagbo's support for the effort. Koudouss said Muslims in Ivory Coast had been marginalized since independence, but the religious tensions were kept in check under Boigny, the first president after independence from France. "The situation today has its roots in 1993, with the concept of 'Ivorian-ness' created by president (Henri Konan) Bedie. Islam is the oldest of the revealed religions in Ivory Coast. We've had mosques for 800 years," he said. "We don't understand this persecution. Officially, we represent 40 percent of the population, and we are the largest religious community in the country," he said. "The scars are there. You can forgive, not forget. What's happening is horrible. But as clerics, we keep hope. For the last three days, the entire Muslim community has fasted and prayed for peace. The faithful must never despair, for ourselves and for the country." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~