Mbeki to meet I Coast PM
2005-03-02 14:03
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki, the chief mediator in Ivory Coast's lingering civil conflict, will hold talks with the West African country's Prime Minister Seydou Diarra in Cape Town on Thursday, an official said.
Mbeki's spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said the South African leader "is meeting the prime minister to discuss issues relating to the peace process in Ivory Coast."
An Ivorian source said the mild-mannered Diarra, who was as chosen prime minister under a French-brokered accord aiming at bringing peace to the once-stable and prosperous nation, would arrive in South Africa on Wednesday.
In the aftermath of a failed September 2002 coup against Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, that sparked a low-level civil war, Ivory Coast remains riddled with tensions pitting the mostly-Muslim and immigrant north against the loyalist south.
Violence erupted anew on Monday when Ivory Coast rebels claimed to have been attacked by pro-government militia, in violation of a ceasefire that has often been breached in the past.
The rebels said they had killed at least 30 insurgents and taken more than 80 into custody.
Unknown militia, believed to be a front for the firebrand Front for the Liberation of the Grand West (FLGO) has claimed responsibility for the attack, the first major violence in the restive country since government planes waged three days of air strikes against rebel towns in November.
The incident led Sidiki Konate, a spokesperson for the rebels, to declare peace-brokering efforts by Mbeki had effectively come to end.