ABIDJAN,
December 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Three rebel groups in
Ivory Coast were set Monday, December 23, to discuss a possible merger
in the conflict after French peacekeepers stopped one of them marching
on the prized cocoa belt of the world’s largest producer.
The
main rebel Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI), which occupied Ivory
Coast’s northern half after September 19, said the talks, due to begin
in a hotel at their central headquarters of Bouake, had been slightly
delayed, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
other participants were the MJP (Movement for Justice and Peace) and the
MPIGO (The Far West Ivory Coast People’s Movement).
The
agenda includes a proposed merger in the fight against President Laurent
Gbagbo and discussions on the French involvement in the war as well as
the possibility of breaching a ceasefire line agreed to by the MPCI and
the government.
The
MPCI rebels accuse Gbagbo of further marginalizing the Muslim majority
north, which they say has already been the target of discrimination for
years.
Many
of the MPCI fighters were close to former military ruler Robert Guei,
killed on the first day of the September uprising.
The
two western rebel groups also claim allegiance to Guei, who seized power
in a December 1999 military coup but lost presidential elections a year
later to Gbagbo.
Rebels
have threatened all-out war on former colonial ruler France for firing
on MPIGO forces Saturday, December 21, and halting their march on the
strategic western town of Duekoue - on the route to the cocoa capital of
Daloa. The MPIGO said it had lost several men in the attack.
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Numbers
of displaced Ivorians are on the rise
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However,
the French said the rebels had fired on their forces first and they were
forced to retaliate. Three rebel four-wheel-drive vehicles were
destroyed in the action.
The
rebel discussions came as defense ministers from the 15-member regional
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc were due to meet
in Abidjan to work out the details of a peacekeeping force in Ivory
Coast.
The
ECOWAS held an emergency summit on September 29, 10 days after the
Ivorian uprising, and decided to send regional peacekeepers.
It
recently reiterated its resolve to deploy troops by the end of the year
but Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said that the peacekeepers would
be sent only if Gbagbo and the rebels reached an agreement over the
issue.
France
Getting More Involved
Ivory
Coast’s former colonial ruler France has meanwhile become more
embroiled in the war.
Paris
has deployed more than 1,500 peacekeepers who are now empowered to shoot
anyone blocking them from enforcing the truce or ensuring the safety of
foreigners.
The
French contingent is due to be reinforced to nearly 2,500 men by the end
of the year.
Western
Mediation Favored
On
the other hand, and despite rebel threats to the French troops, the
leader of the main rebel group MPCI called Monday for France and the
United Nations to take over mediation of the conflict, saying he had no
confidence in African-led negotiations under way.
“I’m
in favor, fully in favor for France to play mediator, alongside the
United Nations. I’m not ashamed to say so,” Guillaume Soro, head of
the MPCI, told the French newspaper La Croix.
“I
don’t believe any more, not at all, in the African negotiations on the
Ivory Coast. Nothing concrete has come out for peace,” he said.
The
U.N. Security Council for the first time last week expressed grave
concern over Ivory Coast, fearing chaos in the already volatile
sub-region which has witnessed two brutal civil wars.
A
resolution late Friday, December 19, said the council was perturbed by
“the situation... and its serious consequences for the population of
this country and the region.”
More
than 400 people have died in the uprising, which began September 19 when
angry soldiers facing demobilization launched well-synchronized mutinies
in Abidjan, Bouake and Korhogo.
