African leaders meet on I Coast
2005-10-07 08:48
Addis Ababa - Top African leaders are pressing Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo to create and lead a transitional government for 12 months in an effort to avert constitutional crisis in the war-ravaged country.
The leaders - who are part of African Union's 15-member Peace and Security Council and the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas - issued the resolution after meeting in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday to discuss Ivory Coast's mounting political tensions.
The West African country is heading for a constitutional deadlock, with the opposition challenging the president's right to remain in office after October, and Gbagbo saying elections could not be held as scheduled on October 30 because rebels had not disarmed.
The AU's peace and security commissioner, Said Djinnit, urged Gbagbo in the meantime to appoint a prime minister who was acceptable to both opposition parties and rebels controlling the northern half of Ivory Coast.
Remains head of state
"President Gbagbo shall remain the head of state for the coming 12 months," Djinnit said.
"The government which he will lead shall be composed of personalities proposed by the Ivorian parties signatory to the Linas-Marcussis Agreement," intended to foster national reconciliation, Djinnit said.
Djinnit spoke on behalf of the meeting, which also included Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Sudan's Omar el-Bashir and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Gbagbo did not attend.
The meeting's participants said it was crucial that Ivory Coast keep to a series of peace deals that so far have failed to restore normalcy in the country.
The AU plans also to set up an international monitoring group to evaluate implementation of the peace deals before elections are held at the end of the transition period, Djinnit said.
The group will include senior officials from Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, South Africa, France, the United States, Britain, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union, African Union and Ecowas, he said. Nigerian Foreign Minister Bola Adeniji will head the group.
Most Ivorians have long doubted presidential polls would be held in the nation since a failed 2002 coup attempt sparked civil war. Major fighting ended in early 2003, but the country has remained tense and divided into the rebel-held north and government-held south. Many fear new violence.
On September 27, Gbagbo said the October 30 poll could not be held because rebels had failed to disarm. Both sides have repeatedly pledged to lay down arms, but neither has done so.
Gbagbo said the constitution allows him to remain in power after October 30 if war or natural disaster prevents polling. Rebels and opposition leaders dispute the claim, and say he will have no legal authority to remain president after October 30.
- AP