Ivory Coast reopens disarmament talks with rebels
Source: Reuters
By Ange Aboa YAMOUSSOUKRO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The military heads of Ivory Coast's New Forces rebels met with army chiefs on Tuesday for the first time since a new U.N.-backed peace plan, in a bid to relaunch the disarmament process in the West African state. Efforts to reunite the world's top cocoa growing nation -- divided into a government-controlled south and a rebel north since a short 2002-2003 war -- have been mired in political squabbling which has derailed efforts at disarming the opposing factions. The United Nations approved a 12-month extension to President Laurent Gbagbo's term in November under a roadmap empowering Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny to organise elections. Last week, after clashes between Gbagbo and Banny, it urged all parties to cooperate with the prime minister to implement the plan. "We have met ... The contact has been renewed," said General Soumaila Bakayoko, chief of staff for the New Forces, after the meeting in the capital Yamoussoukro. "There are a certain number of working groups that make this peace process in Ivory Coast a reality." The two sides discussed first steps in the disarmament process. The factions must abandon their arms before they can be merged into a new national army. The meeting had been planned for last week in the commercial capital Abidjan but was abandoned when members of Gbagbo's loyalist Republic Guard prevented rebel chiefs from entering the presidential palace, where the talks were due to take place. In April, talks were also abandoned when a rebel delegation was prevented from passing through an army roadblock on the way from their northern stronghold Bouake to Yamoussoukro. "We are rebuilding confidence, which is returning," said Banny, presiding over the meeting, which was attended by representatives of the U.N. force which mans a buffer zone between the two sides. The next talks were due in the first week of January, in an effort to make up for lost time, Banny said. The rebels have demanded that pro-government militias controlling towns in Western Ivory Coast disarm before they lay down their own guns, but these groups have refused to do so, saying this would leave civilians vulnerable to attack. Militia chiefs were not present at Tuesday's talks. Gbagbo has conducted a public power struggle with Banny since November's resolution and warned that he will not accept aspects of the U.N. plan which violate his constitutional powers.
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