Gbagbo names interim ministers
2003-03-26 17:17
Abidjan - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has signed a decree naming the interim defence and interior ministers in a unity government aimed at ending a ruinous rebel war, official sources said on Wednesday.
Gbagbo designated Adou Assoa from the ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party as interim defence minister and Fofana Zemogo from the main opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) party to provisionally hold the interior portfolio.
Both are members of the new power-sharing government. Assoa is in charge of water and forests while opposition candidate Zemogo is the minister for higher education.
The new government comprises members of three rebel groups holding the north and west of the world's largest cocoa producer since September 19 and all leading political parties.
The government has been officially named but has yet to start functioning. It hung fire since a French-mediated peace accord in January after rebels insisted that they had been promised the key defence and interior ministries.
This demand was opposed by the armed forces, President Gbagbo's militant supporters and four leading political parties.
But the main rebel group, the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement, later gave up their claims to the key security ministries during peace talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra.
The rebels want more safety guarantees before they come to the government-controlled south - where the main city of Abidjan is located - to start work.
Meanwhile, Albert Tevoedjre, the special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the head of an international team of monitors tracking the implementation of the French-brokered peace deal, was Wednesday due to meet rebel leaders in their central headquarters of Bouake for talks.
Tevoedjre is also due to tour the sub-region for talks relating to the Ivorian crisis from Thursday. He is expected to visit Burkina Faso, Ghana and Benin and return on Sunday.
The international monitors have repeatedly called for the new government to be set up "as soon as possible" and start work.