Gbagbo rejects resignations
2003-12-03 10:41
Abidjan - The Ivory Coast government said on Tuesday President Laurent Gbagbo had refused to accept offers to resign by his army chiefs, a demand made by soldiers frustrated with the lack of progress in solving the country's 14-month political and military crisis.
"The president of the republic acted responsibly and refused to accept the offer to resign that Generals Mathias Doue, Denis Bombe and Gregoire Toulovy submitted to him today," the government said in a statement read out on national television by Defence Minister Rene Amani.
"He considered, quite correctly, that under the present circumstances it was wiser to keep the army united rather than trigger a split."
On Sunday, armed men in army uniforms interrupted national television to demand the resignation of the country's army chief of staff and other senior leaders within 48 hours, saying they were ready to "free the country".
They also demanded that French troops leave the so-called line of control separating the north, which is controlled by former rebels, from the south, which is in the hands of Gbagbo loyalists.
Neither at war nor at peace
Gbagbo's military adviser said on Monday the soldiers were "fed up with the situation of being neither at war nor at peace".
The soldier's interruption of national television followed clashes at the weekend between French forces policing the demilitarised line of control and Ivorian soldiers who tried to cross the neutral zone, allegedly on their way to Bouake, the headquarters city of former rebels in control of the north of the country.
The clashes were followed by protests on Tuesday, which were broken up by riot police.
The soldiers involved in the weekend clashes were accompanied by Ivorian "Young Patriots", hardline and sometimes armed youths who back Gbagbo against the former rebels. The Young Patriots' leader has advocated a 24-hour sit-in outside the French military base in Abidjan, starting on Wednesday.
But the government said on Tuesday the army and the Young Patriots should respect the law.
"People who really want peace should respect the decision the government took in October to suspend public demonstrations for three months," the defence minister said.
Gbagbo's military advisor Bertin Kadet said on Monday: "The soldiers are at the front, their country is cut in half and there is a strong feeling of revolt among them. We have to understand that they want to fight to liberate their country."
At the same time he acknowledged their storming of national television and radio to launch the ultimatum was "an act of insubordination".
The former rebels, now called the New Forces, are also angry at the current state of affairs in Ivory Coast. On Tuesday they blamed Gbagbo for the past few days of unrest and said they had postponed an announcement as to whether they would rejoin the government.