SA mercenaries in I Coast

2003-04-02 22:50

Abidjan - About 1 000 mercenaries, mainly from South Africa, have recently been employed to operate in Ivory Coast, which is emerging from a rebel war, several sources said in Abidjan on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, British non-governmental organisation Global Witness charged in a report that "the Liberian government is directly involved in the... conflict through its control of two western Ivorian rebel groups".

The mercenaries were hired through a US-based company specialising in security services and their presence was unveiled by the British intelligence agents, the sources said.

The reported arrival of these forces has alarmed foreign diplomats in Abidjan, coming as efforts are in hand to set up a "national reconciliation" government to end more than six months of division and conflict.

A joint committee monitoring a French-sponsored peace pact, the Marcoussis accord, signed by the government and three rebel movements holding half the country has taken up the matter with President Laurent Gbagbo.

"We are actively working on this case," a committee member told AFP on Wednesday.

One of the points in the accord signed on January 24 was that the "national reconciliation government" would "ensure that no foreign mercenaries are left on national territory".

Concerns

A "western ambassador" has also raised the question of newly arrived mercenaries with Gbagbo, who said he was not aware of this, an opposition newspaper reported.

Western countries have raised concerns via diplomats in South Africa and Ghana because, according to AFP's sources, mercenaries may be flying in via Accra, the Ghanaian capital, to travel to Ivory Coast in small groups.

Since the political and military crisis broke out on September 19, the shadow of "dogs of war" has hung over the conflict and each side has accused the other of recruiting mercenaries.

In a report on Liberia, Global Witness charged that "President Charles Taylor has used his illegal arms imports and ties to groups of ex-combatants to organise, arm and deploy the two western Ivorian rebel groups: the Popular Movement for the Ivorian Great West (MPIGO) and the Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP).

Other recent reports put some Liberian fighters on the government side.

On October 31, Gbagbo's office denied that South African mercenaries were fighting with government forces, saying such reports were "fanciful allegations".

But it turned out that mercenaries, including a South African known as Carlos, flew old Soviet-made MI-24 helicopters bought by Abidjan to undertake strikes against rebel forces.

Liberian mercenaries

Gbagbo finally admitted on January 3 that mercenaries had been active when, following talks with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, he told a press conference that they would all have left by the next day.

"There will no more mercenaries, at least on our side," Gbagbo stated, adding that he had been "informed" of their presence, checked it out and found "this was true".

The Ivorian government has accused rebels of hiring "Liberian mercenaries" in the west of the country, where the two new rebel forces emerged at the end of November.

On March 28, the UN Security Council "condemned the recruitment of mercenaries" and stressed that neighbouring countries should make every effort to prevent them from participating.

This statement appeared aimed at Liberia, because it came after Ivorian pro-government youths took on French forces in a bid to free 110 people detained on March 7 and considered by the French army to be Liberian fighters acting for Abidjan.

For Global Witness, about 90 percent of the MPIGO and MJP forces were mercenaries from Liberia and Sierra Leone.

- AFX