Gbagbo: It's up to the rebels
2003-11-28 12:45
Abidjan - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo said Thursday that rebels who have refused to disarm since their uprising in September 2002 plunged the country into war were all that was keeping the nation from peace.
"Disarmament will bring an end to the belligerence and will open the door to peace," Gbagbo said in an address broadcast on radio and television in the world's top cocoa producer.
"We must move towards peace, without delay, without connivance, trusting one another."
Though a ceasefire ending 10 months of war has held since July, Ivory Coast remains divided between the government-run south and the rebel-held north.
The unity government formed under a January peace pact has foundered since the former rebels quit in September amid accusations that Gbagbo was hoarding power by refusing to implement the deal.
"The more I think about this war the more I am convinced that it was essentially a refute of democracy," said Gbagbo, who has insisted since the January accords brokered by former colonial power France that he accepted them in spirit and not in deed.
Thursday, however, was the first time since January that he acknowledged that the accords "affirmed core principles that were the reason for their existence": the need to preserve territorial integrity; respect for state institutions and the restoration of the state's authority.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has led efforts to defuse the crisis, which has had major social and economic repercussions for the region.
The United States on Wednesday, following a meeting between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and an Ecowas delegation, released a statement emphasising "the need for parallel progress on the political and security fronts".
"Implementation of the (January) accords remains the foundation of political progress," a statement from state department spokesperson Richard Boucher said.
"We urged the New Forces to return to the government of national reconciliation immediately so that the legislation required under the (January) accords can be acted upon. We expect President Laurent Gbagbo to co-operate with the process as well."
Gbagbo has faced intense regional pressure, as well as an EU threat to withhold promised aid, to hand executive powers to the prime minister of national reconciliation and to fully implement the peace accords.
He has agreed to collaborate with Prime Minister Seydou Diarra but insisted on Thursday that he had fulfilled his obligations under the accords and that it was incumbent on the rebels to surrender their control of the north of the country and disarm.
There was no immediate response from the New Forces.
"I ask that the rebels take the hand offered to them by the nation," Gbagbo said.
"We must help our friends, our children who took up arms against the country to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged zones and free Ivory Coast from this nightmare."