Johannesburg — Opposition demonstrators in Cote dIvoire stormed onto the streets of Abidjan, Sunday, one week after pro-government supporters launched a series of anti-French rallies in the commercial capital.
Sundays violent protests were sparked by the alleged killing of a celebrated satirical actor and comedian, known to have close links with Cote dIvoires political opposition and considered to be among its staunchest allies. His body was dumped in Abidjan working class suburb of Adjame.
This was the first public explosion of anger by opposition supporters in the city, since the five-month civil war erupted in September 2002 when rebels launched a failed coup and went on to seize and control northern Cote dIvoire and western parts of the country. "Weve kept silent for too long. If they want to kill opponents, then were here, were ready," one opposition activist told Reuters in their Abobo stronghold in Abidjan.
Reuters reported that one demonstrator was killed when security forces opened fire to disperse the opposition protestors in Abidjan on Sunday, after they threw up barricades.
Opposition party members, seen to be sympathetic to the rebels, are accused by government supporters of siding with the insurgents - and have become targets.
By contrast, last weeks demonstrations were organised by followers of President Laurent Gbagbo, in protest at a peace deal brokered in Paris which, they complain, rewarded the rebels and sharply limited his powers.
Gbagbos supporters - including the security forces, leading political parties, traditional chiefs and hardcore 'young patriots from outspoken youth movements - object to the inclusion of the rebels in a proposed power-sharing Ivorian government, as part of an agreement, which they say was forced on their president by France.
The government supporters have called the accord a national humiliation. The security forces have refused to contemplate the prospect of cantonment and disarmament or being ordered back to barracks, saying these procedures should apply to rebels and not to the regular army.
The main rebel faction, the Patriotic Movement of Cote dIvoire (MPCI), said that it received guarantees, during a nine-day all-party conference outside Paris, that it would be assigned the interior and defence portfolios.
'French must renegotiate the deal'
But one of Gbagbos key aides in Paris, Toussaint Alain, told journalists Sunday that the former colonial power, France, would simply have to renegotiate the power-sharing peace deal, because the Ivorian people had comprehensively rejected it. "The idea of having rebels in strategic government positions seems intolerable for Ivorians," he said.
"The final objective of the accord is peace, therefore to ensure that the entire (deal) is not lost, one must listen to the voice of the Ivorian population," he continued. But he warned that the French would have to jump-start the peace process "by reworking from scratch the clauses which have shocked the Ivorian people."
Alain noted the sticky issue of the distribution of cabinet portfolios "has to be clarified", adding that "since these arrangements are not acceptable in the eyes of the Ivorian people, the mediator (the French foreign minister, Dominque de Villepin) must accept to renegotiate."
He complained to the French News Agency (AFP) about Villepin - who was instrumental in getting Cote dIvoires warring sides to sit together and talk - saying the French minister must stop harassing Gbagbo. "The president has decided to consult the population," before giving his position on the faltering French-brokered peace process, said Alain.
Previous West African peace initiatives to end the civil war failed to make headway.
But there was no sign from the French government of willingness to help rework the peace package. Instead, Paris has increased the pressure on Gbagbo; Villepin appealed to the Ivorian leader, Sunday, to respect the accords he accepted in Paris to try to end the war in which hundreds of people have been killed and up to one million people displaced.
"We took an initiative to reunite the Ivorian people. They agreed to an accord and now it must be respected. France solemnly requests President Gbagbo to commit himself resolutely to the path of reconciliation," said the French foreign minister.
It was the announcement of the Paris agreement that provoked the violent anti-French riots throughout last week in Abidjan, organised by Gbagbos young patriots who rubbished the deal as favouring the rebels.
France has dispatched 2,500 troops to Cote dIvoire to protect its 16,000 nationals and monitor ceasefire agreements keeping government loyalist and rebel forces apart. But Paris got sucked into the fighting before launching its intensive diplomatic initiative.
Some say the French have misread the forces at play in their former colony, under-estimating the power of the mob, which has ruled the streets of Cote dIvoires southern city, Abidjan, for the past week, coordinating the anti-French demonstrations.
At the weekend pro-Gbagbo youths stormed onto the tarmac at Abidjan international airport, harassing French families and other foreigners fleeing Cote dIvoire. The departing passengers were spat upon and tormented as they walked towards the terminal.
Villepin called on French citizens in Cote dIvoire to leave the country, unless their presence was indispensable and warned Gbagbo that he was "responsible for their security, as well as that of all foreigners."
US backs Paris accord
Washington has called on Gbagbo to implement the French-mediated plan for peace, the signing of which was witnessed last month by African leaders, the United Nations secretary general, representatives of the European Union and other dignitaries.
The rebels also weighed in with their views, Sunday, warning Gbagbo to stop dithering and to ensure that the agreement came into force immediately. An MPCI rebel spokesman has said the peace accord is not negotiable.
Gbagbo's Paris spokesman Alain said the Ivorian leaders keenly awaited address to the nation on the peace pact would be made "between now and Wednesday evening". Meanwhile, he said, Gbagbo was continuing his consultations. Meetings with a government-appointed civil group were scheduled on Monday, followed by talks with the national assembly on Tuesday.
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A 'rescue mission' headed by three West African leaders - Ghanas President John Agyekum Kufuor, Nigerian Olusegun Obasanjo and the regional peace coordinator, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo - met Gbagbo in Abidjan Saturday, in a bid to salvage the Paris agreement.
The regional leaders joined France and the United States, urging the Ivorian president to respect the accord. But the West African presidential contact group left Cote dIvoire with little sign that it had made any progress.
Kufuor is the freshly-elected chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) which launched an ill-fated regional peace mission for Cote dIvoire in October.
On Sunday, the Ghanaian leader flew to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to join his continental counterparts at a summit of the African Union (AU), which will discuss the Cote dIvoire crisis.
"The Cote dIvoire issue is a burning issue today in Africa and we want peace there - a lasting peace," AU spokesman, Desmond Orjiako said at its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
AFP quoted the interim chairman of the AU commission, Amara Essy - himself a former Ivorian foreign minister - as saying "the principle of the accord is sound, there has been compromise on both sides."
But, commented Essy, "the distribution of the (ministerial) portfolios is something different. There may be formulas to accommodate all sides, to reassure everybody. I think this is crucial."
Apart from the Cote dIvoire rebellion, other intractable African wars - including the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Sudan - are also reported to be on the AU summit agenda for the leaders' urgent attention.
