Mbeki sends team to I Coast

2004-12-19 07:58

Mpumelelo Mkhabela

Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki will increase South Africa's presence in the Ivory Coast by sending a strong group of officials next week to monitor the implementation of the peace plan he brokered two weeks ago.

Mbeki announced this at the conclusion of his two-day meeting with representatives of rebel group, New Forces, in Pretoria, on Friday.

The team, whose number of personnel Mbeki did not disclose, will be based both in the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan and the rebel-held town of Buoake.

The peace plan, agreed to by all warring factions during Mbeki's visit, will have to be implemented within four months.

One major issue is the amendment of article 35 of the constitution, which discriminates against people of mixed nationality from contesting elections.

The plan's time frame indicates that the Ivory Coast parliament is due to pass the amendment in January, but President Laurent Gbagbo had inserted a clause in the amendment requiring a referendum afterwards.

What happens next?

Mbeki said there was no point talking about a referendum when parliament was yet to pass the amendment. Mbeki had been informed that the referendum clause had been withdrawn. "The matter of what happens next, is something that we will come back to later."

The monitoring committee, which includes the UN, African Union and Economic Community of West African States, would ensure that legislative reforms are in line with 2003 Linas-Marcoussis peace agreement.

On bringing the dysfunctional government of national reconciliation to normality, Mbeki said the United Nations had agreed to provide security for the rebel ministers so they could return to their positions.

According to the peace plan, which received backing from the UN last week, disarmament, demobilisation, and re-integration of armed forces will take up to four months.

Louis Dacoury Tabley, the deputy secretary of the New Forces, who led a three-member delegation to meet Mbeki, said that a wrong impression had been created that only his group should disarm.

"I would like to remind you that, we decided on disarmament, but this is not only relevant to New Forces. An impression has been created that it's only the New Forces who have to disarm."

When asked whether he planned to return to Ivory Coast, Mbeki paused, before saying that the group to be dispatched would decide on that.

- City Press