Ivorians urged to end chaos

2006-01-19 08:14

Abidjan - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny called late on Wednesday for their compatriots to end the street violence which has brought chaos to Abidjan.

Following emergency talks with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Ivorian leaders called on the people "to withdraw from the streets and to go back home. The President of the Republic of Ivory Coast and the Prime Minister invite the people... to go back to work tomorrow".

The statement added that Gbagbo and Konan Banny had been "invited" to continue with talks aimed at reaching a political solution to the crisis "in the coming days".

Earlier on Wednesday, clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and UN peacekeepers saw a renewed bid to storm the UN base in Abidjan and the killing of four Ivorians.

Between 2 000 and 3 000 Young Patriots made two attempts to break into the UN premises, where they were driven off with tear gas and warning shots.

The militants have halted city life for three days with angry protests at a call by a UN-mandated working group on Ivory Coast to scrap the Ivorian parliament.

Using petrol bombs they managed to set fire to the main entrance.

Demonstrators also ripped down the barbed wire round the UN base, one made a hole in the concrete wall and a group of "Kamikazes" with black-daubed faces sang their national anthem and threw petrol bombs, one landing on the roof of a UN building, an AFP correspondent said.

French peacekeeping troops were brought in by helicopter but fired no shots, a spokesperson said.

'Manoeuvre to destabilise the transition government'

In the west, a border region notorious for unrest, Bangladeshi UN troops battled youths who attacked military camps.

The UN-mandated working group, known by its French acronym GTI, was set up to oversee implementation of the UN resolution passed last October, which extended Gbagbo's expired term for a year and led to the naming of a prime minister acceptable to Gbagbo and his foes.

The emergency solution thrashed out with Obasanjo will be communicated to the GTI, which is monitoring the peace process.

"The international working group does not have the power to dissolve the national assembly," the joint statement read.

Obasanjo stressed that the GTI "has no power to dissolve the national assembly, has no intention to dissolve, and has no mandate from anywhere to do so and did not do so."

But he added: "By the constitution of your country the mandate of the national assembly has come to an end the 16th December 2005."

Ivory Coast's New Forces rebel group called for an immediate halt to the demonstrations.

The head of the armed wing of the New Forces, "General" Soumaila Bakayoko, said that the demonstrations were a "manoeuvre to destabilise the transition government" that "would not be accepted".

Bakayoko also criticised the loyalist defence and security forces for failing to re-establish public order.

- AFP