| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ivorian peace monitors say all sides break truce
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -- International peace monitors in Ivory Coast said on Friday both rebels and government forces had violated a cease-fire over the past week, and warned that the violence threatened efforts to end nearly seven months of war. The latest outbreak of fighting has prompted the rebels to put on hold plans for their ministers to get down to work in a new coalition government -- the planned next step to ending a conflict that has left thousands dead. In a statement apparently aimed at defusing the tension, President Laurent Gbagbo called on all military and paramilitary forces to refrain from acts of war and urged the rebels to take up their posts in the government. "Our population has been badly affected by this war and the best we can do for them is to stop fighting and sit together at the government table," he said. Earlier, a so-called follow-up committee of peace monitors confirmed that forces loyal to Gbagbo had used Mi-24 "Hind" helicopter gunships this week to attack rebel positions in western Ivory Coast, near the border with anarchic Liberia. But it said the helicopters attacked south of the rebel stronghold of Danane and not the town itself, and made no mention of casualties. The rebels had said the helicopters bombed Danane on Tuesday, killing up to 40 civilians. Ground the gunshipsThe committee, which traveled to Danane to investigate the rebel claims, reiterated its call for the government to ground the gunships, piloted by mercenaries and the most potent weapon in the loyalist arsenal. It said loyalists had also violated the truce with attacks on the towns of Bin Houye and Zouan Hounien, south of Danane, but added the main rebel faction MPCI had done the same with two raids in the east and the northeast. "The committee expresses its deep concern in view of the repeated violations by all sides," it said in a statement. Ivory Coast plunged into civil war after a failed coup last September. The MPCI controls the northern half of the country, while two other rebel groups have seized chunks of the cocoa-rich west. After months of wrangling, peace efforts appeared to move up a gear last week when the rebels took their seats at a cabinet meeting of the new reconciliation government, the centerpiece of a French-brokered peace deal to stop the war. They were expected to travel to Abidjan, the main city, this week to start their new job, but failed to turn up, citing worries about their security and fresh fighting. There was no report of new clashes on Friday, but the MPCI said it expected more government attacks and had put its troops on maximum alert. The follow-up committee, which is meant to monitor the progress of the peace accord and is headed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative to Ivory Coast, will report its findings to the U.N. Security Council. Analysts say their biggest concern is the deepening anarchy in the west of the former French colony, where rebel groups, pro-government militias and Liberians -- fighting on both sides -- have taken up arms to loot and kill. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
