Abidjan — "Ceasefire! Gbagbo says no!" reads Monday morning's banner headline of the state-run Fraternite Matin newspaper, announcing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's decision Sunday not to sign a ceasefire with the rebels in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
After a week of intensive regional mediation on the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire, West African ministers acknowledged Sunday night that they had failed to get Gbagbo's government to agree to a truce with the insurgents, who launched a rebellion on September 19.
Meanwhile, there were reports of fresh fighting in the rebel stronghold of Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire Sunday, though the dissident troops claimed to have repulsed an attack by the loyalist army which it accused of trying to sneak into the city.
State radio reported Sunday night that Gbagbo's forces were on their way to liberate Bouake and its residents. Military experts said the army had moved to recapture the rebel-controlled city from east and west.
Foreign and defence ministers, representing the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), hurriedly packed their bags after a final meeting with Gbagbo at his presidential residence late Sunday.
"There will be no signature; the government says it is the legitimate authority and can therefore not be treated on the same footing as the rebels," Togo's Foreign Minister Koffi Panou, told reporters as the mediation team swept back into their hotel in the main city Abidjan, only to turn round and leave shortly afterwards. "We are going home to give our accounts to our heads of state," said Panou, concluding that "the (Ivorian) government has hardened its position, yes, but don't despair".
The Ghanaian Defence Minister, Kwame Addo-Kufuor, looking grim and frustrated, was the first to depart after telling AllAfrica it was now up to the Cote d'Ivoire government. "We came here with good intentions and tried our best. Now it's a problem for the Ivorians. If they want our support, and outside assistance again, they will have to invite us back," said Addo-Kufuor.
France, the former colonial power -- which still has close ties with Cote d'Ivoire and has sent logistical and moral support to the Ivorian government, as well as 1000 soldiers -- said early Monday that it wanted to see a negotiated settlement in its former colony.
Spokesmen for the dissidents have accused the French of using their troops to block the rebel advance down south, towards Abidjan, the metropolis, economic heartland and seat of government in Cote d'Ivoire. The rebels warned Paris to remain neutral in the conflict, which the government said had left more than 300 people dead.
A week ago, West African presidents attending an emergency summit in Ghana agreed that their ministers would try to mediate in the Cote d'Ivoire conflict. And they warned that if their efforts at negotiation failed, they would send in a military intervention force to keep the peace. That option is now looking unlikely.
Although the Ivorian government appeared keen on diplomatic and logistical assistance from its neighbours, it was openly opposed to any military deployment.
So, is Cote d'Ivoire playing off its allies in West Africa and France one against the other? And why? To buy time enough to reinforce its military, while it prepares the much-vaunted, full-scale assault against the rebels that Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi has been promising?
As the negotiations ended Sunday night and the ministers headed for home, journalists quizzed one of the Ecowas mediators, Nigeria's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia, about the mediation efforts.
What happens now?
We are going to report to our principals, our heads of state now.
Why no ceasefire?
Well the government does not want a ceasefire, because they say they do not want to give legitimacy to what they call a rebel group, that having a ceasefire signed is giving them legitimacy.
You, the ministers from Ecowas mediation mission - the contact group -- have been in Cote d'Ivoire all week, why do you think the Ivorian government did not tell you this right away?
That is the question you will have to ask the Ivorian government.
What did President Laurent Gbagbo tell you when you saw him (on Sunday evening)?
The president told us that he has pressure from the Ivorian people not to sign a ceasefire with them, because that would mean giving legitimacy to the group, the rebel group, the insurgents, so the best thing would be not to sign a ceasefire and that we have to look for another means to convince them to lay down their arms.
So it looks pretty hopeless now?
It is not hopeless. We are just going to go back and put our heads together and tell the Ecowas heads of state, heads of government and authority, and they will have to put their heads together and see how they can tackle the situation.
In the meanwhile, there will be a bloodbath in Bouake.
I don't know if there is a bloodbath in Bouake, but I know we are going to try and solve the problem one way and another.
Is it true that President Gbagbo told the Ecowas mediation team that you had overstepped your brief?
He never said that.
Or strayed from the original agreement reached in Accra last Sunday? What did he say, because the Togolese foreign minister told us that President Gbagbo said there had to be disarmament first of the insurgents?
He said he would wish that the people should lay down their arms first before we can negotiate, that they should lay down their arms before negotiation and that is what he said.
And were you told this before you went to negotiate with the rebels in Bouake last Thursday?
No, we had negotiation with the government and the government agreed in principle that they were prepared for a ceasefire, if the rebels also agreed to a ceasefire. We obtained that from the government before we went to Bouake.
How would you explain this change of heart then by the Ivorian government?
Ah, well that question should go to the government of Cote d'Ivoire.
Well what do you think? After all you have been talking to the government all week.
Well, from what the president said, the Ivorians were putting pressure on him not to engage in ceasefire.
So would you say this is all down to public pressure - or from the army -- from the Ivorian people?
That is what I gathered from the Ivorian president.
What did the president have to say about the outbreak of fighting during the apparent ceasefire talks?
We didn't discuss that.
Minister Onyia, are you going back disappointed, angry, frustrated? How do you feel?
No, when you are looking for peace you are never angry or frustrated, you are never angry. You just get determined that you will continue to try until you get peace.
Well, as you leave for Nigeria, how do you feel? You have been here for a week. You keep saying that you have a ministry to run at home but that peace, a peaceful settlement in Cote d'Ivoire is essential. But there isn't one.
I feel, well we have more work to do. I have to report to my president.
Do you feel it has been a waste of time?
No, nothing is a waste of time. After all, we made contact with the insurgents, with the rebels. That's a success. Before we came, nobody had made contact with them. They told us that they were prepared for a ceasefire, that's what they told us, whenever we want.
But what good has that done? You say that you feel you have made progress because you met the rebels and talked to them, but it hasn't helped much to resolve the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire has it if the government refuses to sign a truce?
Well at least we made contact, at least we know who they are, we know what they want. We know what they are asking for, we know how they feel, that is a way forward.
Do you see your mission as a failure?
Not a complete failure.
Then how would you characterize it?
Well we made some progress.
What progress?
Well, we made contact with the rebels. We discussed with them, we negotiated with them, we listened to them. They told us their grievances.
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But how does that take things forward if the government has refused to talk to the rebels directly or sign a ceasefire?
If you know what the problems are, you will know the solutions or you will try to find the solutions.
Meanwhile the indications are that the Cote d'Ivoire government is preparing an offensive against the insurgents.
I don't know you have to ask the government of Cote d'Ivoire.
There have been reports of fresh fighting in Bouake on Sunday.
We didn't hear that ourselves.
And now that you have been made aware?
We will take the message back to our heads of state.
Do you think President Obasanjo is going to say 'what the hell is going on in Cote d'Ivoire'?
I don't know what he's going to say. When I get to see him, I'll know what I'll discuss with him.
What about the three Nigerian fighter jets that you sent to Cote d'Ivoire?
They were there at the instance of Ecowas and are still there until Ecowas tells us what they want to do with them. They are visiting Cote d'Ivoire.
What is the position about a potential Ecomog regional intervention force being sent to Cote d'Ivoire now, as heads of state warned would happen if there was no peace deal?
We have not gotten to that yet.
Will you be getting to that?
I don't know. We have to talk to our principals first when we get back home.
Do you feel the Ivorian government has chosen the right way forward in this crisis? After all, you wanted mediation and negotiation with the rebels.
He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches.
Is that yes or no?
I don't know. If you are wearing the shoes, you should know where they hurt you.
