Ivory Coast to help Angola
2004-01-28 08:24
Luanda - Ivory Coast, itself in an uneasy state of neither peace nor war, is ready to help rebuild Angola, where a 27-year-long civil war ended in April 2002, Ivorian Mines Minister Leon Emmanuel declared in Luanda Tuesday.
"We could sign an agreement under which Ivory Coast would undertake to participate in the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the war in Angola," he told journalists after delivering a message from Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo to President Eduardo dos Santos.
After rebels tried to overthrow Gbagbo in September, 2002, Angola sent military equipment and troops to support the government.
In Paris, meanwhile, French President Jacques Chirac and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan discussed on Tuesday a plan to send UN peacekeeping troops to Ivory Coast, officials said.
"We are making progress and have good hopes of seeing the right conditions come together" for the deployment of 6 000 UN troops, an aide to the French leader said after Chirac and Annan met for a working lunch.
A peace plan for the former French colony has already led to the creation of an interim government, but 4 000 French soldiers and 1 200 west African troops are currently keeping the peace between government forces in the south and the former rebels in the north and west.