Gbagbo unveils peace plan
2006-12-20 08:20
Abidjan - Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo unveiled a plan on Tuesday to reunite the war-divided country, in an apparent snub to a United Nations-backed roadmap announced last month, which his opponents said he was blocking.
In a long-awaited address aired on television, Gbagbo proposed new talks with the New Forces rebels, who tried to oust him in the 2002-03 war and called for the end of a UN-manned buffer zone separating the rebel north from the government-controlled south.
The five-point plan followed a series of consultations with civil society groups after the UN-backed plan was presented last month.
The president had called for home-grown peace proposals, alleging that international efforts had failed in the world's top cocoa producer.
I Coast wishes to end crisis
Gbagbo said: "The objective of all of these propositions is to end the crisis through elections. I wish for elections to take place as quickly as possible", adding the long-delayed polls could take place by July, ahead of a UN deadline.
Gbagbo said he aimed to finish disarmament talks by the end of January. The UN plan entrusted disarmament and the organisation of polls by the end of October 2007 to an interim prime minister.
Gbagbo had said that he would not implement any aspect of the plan that limited his constitutional authority, and had clashed with the appointed Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny.
The president said on Tuesday that the removal of the reconciliation government headed by Banny was something to be considered, but not in the immediate future.
Gbagbo may tackle joblessness
Gbagbo's constitutional five-year mandate expired in October 2005, but he was kept in power under a UN-backed scheme after polls failed to take place. When a second deadline was missed in October, a UN plan gave Gbagbo a final 12-month extension.
Gbagbo also proposed a new youth training scheme to tackle joblessness, which had rocketed since the war, adding that it would be open to rebel combatants.
He pledged help for the war-displaced to return home, many in the rebel-held north, and offered a new amnesty law for the New Forces rebels to replace a 2003 text, which he said was now "obsolete".
The last talks between Gbagbo, rebel leader Guillaume Soro and main opposition leaders in September, chaired by African Union president Denis Sassou N'Guesso, ended without agreement.
Gbagbo's plan didn't directly address the rebels' main concern. They demanded identity papers before disarming, but disputed the format of an ID scheme due to resume in the coming weeks.