I Coast ex-rebels break away

2004-05-24 15:13

Abidjan - Ivory Coast's former rebels no longer recognise the authority of President Laurent Gbagbo, the group, which rose up against Gbagbo in 2002 and was brought into a unity regime last year, said on Monday.

"As of today, Laurent Gbagbo does not exist. We only recognise the government of Seydou Diarra, tasked with restoring peace and reconciling Ivorians," said a statement signed by the leader of the former rebel group, Guillaume Soro, who was communications minister in the unity government until he was sacked last week by Gbagbo.

By sacking Soro and two other unity government ministers drawn from the opposition and replacing them by officials drawn from his own Ivorian Popular Front party, "Laurent Gbagbo has killed" the peace accord signed in January 2003, the statement said.

The accord - reached under French mediation and signed in the Paris suburb of Marcoussis, from which the pact drew its name - brought the rebels and political opposition into government and was supposed to see Gbagbo cede some executive power to a prime minister.

Diarra was named prime minister after the accord was signed, but Gbagbo's stubborn refusal to abide by some of the pact's key terms has kept reconciliation at bay and seen the unity government crumble.

The ex-rebels - whose political incarnation is called the New Forces - were among seven opposition movements that quit the government in March, after pro-Gbagbo forces violently quashed an anti-government demonstration, killing at least 120 people, according to a UN report.

Announcing the sacking of the three government ministers last week, Gbagbo also said he would impose sanctions on opposition parties over their now two-month-long boycott of the so-called unity government.

"We now find ourselves, alas, in a phase of belligerence," said the statement by the ex-rebels.

Diarra has written to Gbagbo to protest at the sackings and sanctions against the opposition, which were taken without prior consultation with the prime minister.

The president's unilateral decisions were in violation not only of the peace accord but also of Ivory Coast's constitution, the prime minister said in his letter.

- AFP