I Coast regrets over violence
2005-11-07 10:06
Abidjan - The Ivory Coast's so-called youth general has expressed regret over last year's rampage by young nationalists which sparked an exodus of two-thirds of the country's 14 000 white residents.
But a year after violent anti-French demonstrations by Young Patriot zealots, Charles Ble Goude said their "excesses" should be pardoned and denied giving an order to wreak havoc and destruction.
The man who is often referred to as "the streets minister" also expressed a desire to see strained relations between France and its former colony return to an even keel.
On November 6 last year, 9 000 traumatised foreigners - including 8 000 French and 200 Britons, as well as Spaniards, Italians and Belgians - were evacuated after Ble Goude called on Ivorians to take to the streets to confront French troops.
The blame for much of the violence directed at whites, their homes and businesses was levelled at Young Patriots loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo.
Goude 'humiliated'
The protests were in response to French air strikes that destroyed the West African nation's tiny air force after it bombarded a French peacekeepers' base in the rebel-held north of the country, killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker.
"My country was humiliated, treated like a district of Paris. Planes have taken off from everywhere to come and attack my country, the symbols of the state were directly attacked by the French army, Ivorians were killed, our country's air force was destroyed," said Goude.
"I called for resistance, so I'm responsible for all that went on. I did not give an order of attack or destruction. I sincerely regret the excesses that must have shocked French and European residents, and those attached to justice and order. I would like them to forgive the Young Patriots."
The world's leading cocoa producer has been split since a coup attempt in September 2002, with the Gbagbo's government controlling the south and New Forces rebels holding the mostly Muslim north.
Comparison drawn to apartheid
Denouncing the shootings by French troops of "unarmed protesters" during the November 2004 riots, Goude said he hoped France and the Ivory Coast could start afresh.
The country's health ministry says 57 Ivorian civilians were killed and 2 226 injured during the violence "following reprisals carried out by French troops".
"I don't see why the French and the Ivorians cannot put a line through what has happened out of respect of the two peoples and in the interests of the two peoples," Goude said, pointing to co-operation between black and white South Africans since the end of apartheid.
Mediators last week made little progress with political groups on the choice of a new prime minister who will prepare the country for fresh elections within a year.
Gbagbo's mandate has been extended after the October 30 presidential election was abandoned.