'It's not a call to arms'
2003-11-19 07:39
Abidjan - Former rebels controlling the north of Ivory Coast said on Tuesday they imposed a state of emergency in their territory as a "defensive" measure rather than a call to arms.
"We are no longer on a war footing. We are merely on the defensive," said Sidiki Konate for the former rebels now known as the New Forces.
Konate was in Dakar with New Forces leader Guillaume Soro, who was to hold talks in Accra later on Tuesday with Ghanaian President John Kufuor, the leading regional mediator in the crisis in the world's top cocoa producer.
The New Forces, embroiled in a power struggle with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, declared a state of emergency in their zones late on Monday after a warning by General Mathias Doue on Saturday that armed conflict was "still possible and could resume at any time."
He was speaking at a ceremony to honour about 200 soldiers who died in a civil war sparked by an armed uprising in September 2002.
A ceasefire ending the 10-month war has held since July 4 in part due to the presence of four thousand troops from former colonial power France, several hundred of whom have been deployed to the strongholds of the former rebels in the western town of Man and central city of Bouake.
A 1 400-strong deployment of peacekeepers from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) is also monitoring the ceasefire after a war that has destroyed the economy of a country once considered a model of stability for the region.
Kufuor, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Ecowas, was among six heads of state at a tense summit with President Gbagbo last Tuesday aimed at staving off a resumption of war and mending the peace process shattered in September when the New Forces abandoned a unity government.
Under heavy pressure from regional leaders, followed by a threat of the withdrawal of promised EU aid, Gbagbo agreed to collaborate with Seydou Diarra, the national reconciliation prime minister, but refused to cede to him executive powers to implement January peace accords.
Gbagbo's supporters insist the New Forces must first disarm and relinquish control of the northern zones they have held since their uprising.
Diarra said on Saturday that Tuesday's meeting would include a delegation from the Ivorian government, but it was unknown whether that plan was scuppered by the hardening of the government and rebel positions.
A Burkinabe diplomat also hinted the New Forces were to announce they would rejoin the unity government but that too looked doubtful on Tuesday.
French President Jacques Chirac, meeting on Monday in Paris with his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki, urged Ivorians to rapidly and completely apply the peace accords, saying there was no other solution to the crisis.