I Coast president 'satisfied'
2005-04-07 10:48
Johannesburg - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo expressed satisfaction after the West African nation's warring sides agreed to end a ruinous civil conflict as United Nations chief Kofi Annan urged all factions to honour their pledges.
Gbagbo, speaking on his return to Abidjan late on Wednesday following the signing of the deal in Pretoria after four days of talks brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki - the African Union's chief mediator in the crisis - sounded upbeat.
"From the moment when we have disarmament for which we have a date, from the moment when it was affirmed that there will be elections in October ... I know that I could have not hoped for better," Gbagbo said.
Five Ivorian leaders on Wednesday pledged to put the former star French colony on the path to peace through disarmament, resolving a dispute over the eligibility of presidential candidates, and providing for the rebels' return to a unity government.
Some sticky issues left
The commitments were contained in the French-brokered Marcoussis accord signed in January 2003 - four months after an uprising against Gbagbo split the country in two - that the sides have repeatedly failed to implement leading to an impasse.
The accord signed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel and opposition leaders set out to resolve key issues that have dogged the peace process in the world's top cocoa grower since the French-brokered peace pact.
These include disarmament of rebel forces and militias, starting with a meeting on April 14, and settling a dispute over citizenship requirements for candidates to the presidency, which was used to bar main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara from running the last time.
Gbagbo however said a key sticking point - Article 35 of the constitution which stipulates that both parents of a presidential candidate must be Ivorian - was left hanging for the moment.
"We had different and divergent points of view," he said.
Mbeki meanwhile said he will make a ruling on the issue after consulting the African Union and the United Nations on the contentious article, adding that the decision would be made in a week.
The accord was signed by Gbagbo, main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who currently lives in exile in France, former president Henri Konan Bedie, Seydou Diarra, consensus prime minister of a government of national reconciliation and rebel leader Guillaume Soro.