I Coast: Mbeki to intervene

2004-11-07 15:30

Addis Ababa - The African Union on Sunday mandated South African President Thabo Mbeki to launch an "urgent mission" to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast.

"President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has been mandated to undertake an urgent mission in consultation with the chairperson of the AU commission, with a view to promoting a political solution" in the west African country, the African Union said.

The decision was taken "as a follow-up to the decision adopted at the Otta AU-Ecowas consultation," it said, referring to a meeting in Otta, Nigeria, on Saturday of the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo was joined at the meeting by the head of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, and by Ghana's foreign minister Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who represented the 15-nation Ecowas west African regional bloc.

They sharply rebuked the Ivory Coast government, saying: "This escalation clearly contradicts the process of national reconciliation."

An AU source who requested anonymity said Mbeki would try to bring Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition leader Alassane Ouatarra into negotiations along with the Gabonese and Burkina Faso presidents Omar Bongo and Blaise Compaore.

A government air strike on Saturday killed nine French peacekeepers and a US civilian in Bouake, in the centre of the west African country, and a clash between French troops and thousands of demonstrators left at least three dead.

French forces destroyed two warplanes and at least three army helicopters after President Jacques Chirac ordered the destruction of all Ivory Coast planes involved in ceasefire violations in the country, divided since a failed coup two years ago.

- AFP