Gbagbo is pulled in different directions, which direction will he take?

ADDIS ABABA, February 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The African Union (AU) Tuesday, February 4, urged all parties to the nearly five-month-old crisis in the Ivory Coast to abide by their obligations under a French-backed peace deal signed last month.

The newborn 53-member organization met at summit level in Addis Ababa for the first time Monday and the following day issued a communique on the deliberations of the body's Central Organ for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

"The Central Organ welcomes the signing of the Lina-Marcoussis Accord of 24 January 2003 which forms a basis for achieving a lasting solution to the crisis and urges all the parties to honor the commitments made and to create a conducive environment for its speedy resolution," the communique said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ivorian President Laurent Gbabgo, who was not among the 34 heads of state and government at the AU summit, signed the Marcoussis agreement but now finds himself pulled in different directions, as rebels and France insist he move ahead with the deal while protests against it have brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets of Abidjan, the main city in the west African country.

Gbagbo has yet to make a much anticipated address to the nation and has described the accord, which provides for the entry of rebels into the government, as a mere set of proposals.

Rebel leader Guillaume Soro has said it would take rebels just 48 hours to topple Gbagbo if he failed to implement the peace deal.

Soro, a student leader turned rebel chief from the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI) group, which held the northern half of the world's leading cocoa producer since September, said Gbagbo can not afford to dither any longer.

In its statement, the AU also said it "strongly condemns the grave violations of human rights committed against civilian populations and urges all the parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law."

It went on to express "grave concern at the humanitarian and socio-economic impact of the crisis in Ivory Coast and the neighboring countries and encourages the countries concerned to make concerted efforts to address the situation."

Rebels Stick to Key Posts

Meanwhile, the rebels ruled out giving up the key Interior and Defense Ministries to salvage the peace deal brokered by France.

"There has never been any question of casting doubt on the settlement or renegotiating it," Soro said late Monday.

Soro denied speculation that the rebels were considering giving up the key posts, instead accepting the junior defense minister's position or just one portfolio, to rescue the contentious accord, which sparked a week of violence and protests in the main Ivory Coast city, Abidjan.

"The MPCI recalls that at the round table talks in Linas-Marcoussis and the summit of heads of state in Paris, seven ministries were allocated, including the Defense and Interior portfolios," the rebel group said.

However, five leading Ivorian political parties and the armed forces have said they will not accept the insurgents in top government posts.

Gbagbo's supporters say the pact is a national humiliation as it limits the president's powers in a power-sharing government headed by a consensus prime minister and legitimizes the rebels.

France is leading the international community in pressuring Gbagbo to honor the deal. "We are now asking President Gbagbo to commit himself definitively to national reconciliation," Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on France's TF1 television late Monday.

"This crisis is very painful," he said. "The Ivory Coast was on the verge of civil war" and "all the players have asked France to help with this accord." He said his government is following the situation "hour by hour".

U.N. Secretary General Annan also took the same line. "The Linas-Marcoussis Agreement negotiated by the various Ivorian parties and endorsed by the Paris Conference of Heads of State on 26 January, represents an important first step towards restoring peace and stability," a statement by his spokesman said.

"The Secretary-General once again calls on all Ivorians, and particularly the political leaders, to work towards making this agreement a concrete first step towards peace," it said.