Johannesburg — Residents of rebel-controlled Bouake, in central Cote dIvoire, heard a brief but intense barrage of gunfire on Sunday night. But what many might have expected to be the "ferocious battle" promised by the government, and the start of a counter-attack against the mutineers by loyalist soldiers, petered out shortly after.
Analysts said this might indicate that the Ivorian government and mutinous troops were both trying to avoid more bloodshed, in a violent uprising in which the authorities reported more than 250 people killed.
The rebels are said to number about 750 soldiers, who are upset they are being retired from the army, against their will. But weekend reports said that youths, backing the dissident forces, were being drafted in and armed. The new recruits were warned by the Prime Minister, Pascal Affi NGuessan, to lay down their arms or "turn them on the aggressors," adding that they should choose between destruction and the Republic.
On Sunday, President Laurent Gbagbos ministers said the government was ready to talk to the rebels in Bouake, and examine their grievances, if they laid down their arms. Nguessan said "Evidently, all solutions which could allow this crisis to be resolved without violence, without bloodletting, will be treated as priorities by the government, but in any case, the crisis must be resolved".
A spokesman for the dissident soldiers also held out an olive branch on Sunday, saying they wanted France to mediate in negotiations with the authorities.
French military reinforcements, who flew into Abidjan early Sunday, were reported to be heading north on standby to protect French citizens and other foreign nationals. Reports early Monday said the French troops had reached the city of Yamoussoukro, Cote dIvoires nominal capital.
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Paris, the former colonial power, has said it will not intervene militarily in the Ivorian conflict. But observers note that the presence of French back-up soldiers may have a calming influence and ease the tension.
The rebels still hold at least two key cities, Bouake in the centre of the country and Korhogo in the north. Gbagbo appears to be in control of the main city Abidjan. All three regional centres came under coordinated attack on Thursday, in what the government has called an attempted coup. The authorities said the uprising was assisted by mercenaries and an unnamed neighbouring country from the north, widely thought to refer to Burkina Faso.
The accusations prompted immediate reprisals on Saturday, targetting immigrant workers from Burkina Faso and other west African residents in the poorer areas of Abidjan. Their shantytown homes were set alight and their belongings looted.
At the start of the crisis on Thursday, the Ivorian Interior Minister was killed by rebels and a former military leader, General Robert Guei - fingered for fomenting the current unrest - was shot dead by loyalist forces.
