I Coast ministers dumped

2004-05-20 12:32

Abidjan - Ivory Coast's president has sacked three rebel and opposition ministers from a national unity government, including the leader of insurgents holding the northern half of the country, state radio said on Thursday.

Ivory Coast's rebels reacted by accusing President Laurent Gbagbo of having "killed" a 2003 peace accord which ended a nine-month civil war that left about three thousand people dead and displaced a million others.

State radio said Gbagbo had signed a decree sacking rebel chief Guillaume Soro, who held the post of Information Minister.

Others fired included Technical Education Minister Youssouf Soumahoro, a rebel official, and Infrastructure Minister Patrick Achi, an opposition member. All have been replaced temporarily by ruling party members, the radio said.

Rebel spokesperson Sidiki Konate told reporters that Gbagbo had "killed" a January 2003 peace deal brokered in the French town of Marcoussis.

"He has killed Marcoussis," said Konate. "If you want reconciliation and peace, that is not how you go about things."

Earlier this week, Gbagbo ordered rebel ministers to leave a luxury hotel in the commercial capital, Abidjan, where they had been staying under UN protection for the past year.

The move prompted Soro to call them back to rebel headquarters in the city of Bouake.

Opposition and rebel ministers have been boycotting government meetings since March, when over 100 were killed in a government crackdown on an attempted opposition rally.

Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler France has about four thousand troops in the West African nation, backing up a UN peacekeeping force which plans to build up to 6 240 by the end of July.

Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, was for decades seen as a haven of peace and stability in a turbulent region. That reputation was shattered by the country's first coup d'etat in 1999, which ushered in spiraling ethnic and political unrest.

- AP