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Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (239)	12/23/2003 10:44:58 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 1267

Ivory Coast Rebels Say They'll Return to Government By REUTERS Published: December 22, 2003 Filed at 1:38 p.m. ET BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's rebels said Monday they would rejoin a coalition government, ending a three-month boycott that had stalled a peace process to end civil war in the West African country. The rebels' newly proclaimed leader earlier called on rebel ministers to return to the government, which was set up under a January peace deal but has so far been hobbled by distrust between rebels and President Laurent Gbagbo. Advertisement Although Ivory Coast's civil war has officially been declared over, the world's top cocoa grower is still split between a rebel-held north and west and government-held south. Rebel and government forces last week began however to withdraw heavy weapons from a central front line in what may be a first step toward eventual disarmament. Monday's decision by the rebels was likely to be welcomed by the international community, which had long called on the insurgents to lift their boycott. ``The decision has been taken... The New Forces will return to the government,'' Sidiki Konate, a spokesman for the New Forces rebels, told Reuters after a meeting of rebel leaders in their central stronghold of Bouake. However, a spokesman for top rebel official Guillaume Soro said the movement's military wing still had to decide on a return date. There have been signs of a split between the movement's political and military wings. REBEL RIFTS Last Friday, a group of rebels declared that Major Ibrahim Coulibaly, an exiled soldier long suspected of being the prime mover behind the rebellion, was their new chief. Coulibaly, who was detained in Paris in August on suspicion of plotting to kill Gbagbo but released on bail, seemed to assume that mantle Monday, saying he had ordered the ministers to end their boycott hours before they did. Ivory Coast's war broke out after rebels tried to oust Gbagbo in September 2002. They failed but seized the north of the country. In the months of fighting that followed, thousands were killed and a million people driven from their homes. The war was officially declared over in July but progress on peace was held up by the rebels' political grievances and Gbagbo's insistence that they disarm. Nine rebel ministers joined the government in April but pulled out in September, accusing Gbagbo of undermining the deal. One minister has since dissociated himself from the rebels. It was not immediately clear what relationship would now exist between Soro and Coulibaly -- effectively rivals for the top position. Soro's spokesman Amadou Kone said that Coulibaly's comments had in no way influenced the rebel decision.