Abidjan — Rebel commanders in Cote d'Ivoire's second city, Bouake, pulled out of regionally brokered negotiations Monday, accusing the government of President Laurent Gbagbo of recruiting soldiers from Angola to support the loyalist army. The rebels of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) called for Gbagbo's immediate resignation.
There was no independent confirmation of the presence of Angolan troops on the ground in Cote d'Ivoire, but for the past 24 hours there has been growing speculation that the Luanda government had sent military back up to help Gbagbo.
The mutineers' decision to suspend their participation in the latest regional mediation initiative comes as a blow to the two envoys, Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio and the Ghanaian executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States, (Ecowas), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who have been trying to broker a fresh regional peace deal.
Gadio and Chambas have each respectively been shuttling between the central rebel stronghold in Bouake and the government in the economic capital, Abidjan, to finalise the second truce proposed by Ecowas in the past ten days.
The Senegalese envoy declared himself optimistic Sunday, after a second meeting with the dissident troops. Gadio said he had the verbal agreement of both sides, which he believed would lead to a ceasefire and a peace plan in a bid to end the three-week uprising.
But on Monday afternoon, the rebels ended that hope, repeating allegations that the government was using foreign mercenaries to try to crush the rebellion. A rebel spokesman, Sergeant Cherif Ousmane, told a news conference in Bouake that 500 Angolan troop reinforcements had been flown into Abidjan on Monday morning. "We are ready and we have the means to systematically massacre any Angolan soldiers who are in Cote d'Ivoire," Ousmane warned.
Angola's deputy foreign minister, Georges Chicoti denied the rebel claims. He told the BBC "That is not true". The Ivorian government has also rejected the accusations that it is receiving military assistance from Angola. Chicoti said there was no truth in any reports of Angolan military involvement in Cote d'Ivoire, despite the turmoil.
The Angolan minister acknowledged recent bilateral security and defence agreements between the two countries, which have forged a close relationship since Gbagbo came to power in 2000. Chicote admitted military training of Ivorian security forces in Angola, but said none of his country's security trainers were currently on Cote d'Ivoire territory.
The rebels in Bouake said they had no confidence in Gbagbo's government or in its desire to sign a ceasefire and demanded that the Ivorian leader step down. They called for fresh elections and the involvement of all the people and political parties in the country. "Gbagbo is not the legitimate president of Cote d'Ivoire. We have decided to take up weapons to chase Gbagbo out of power. Cote d'Ivoire is on the verge of becoming another Rwanda," said Ousmane.
This bellicose talk by the mutineers comes after their troops claimed to have captured the western town of Daloa, Sunday, the cocoa capital of Cote d'Ivoire. Their latest military advance took the rebellion to the heart of the cocoa-producing area, at the start of the major harvest.
On Monday night, state television quoted President Gbagbo saying loyalist forces had retaken Daloa, but news agencies reported fierce fighting in the town.
Cote d'Ivoire, which provides 40 percent of the global supply of cocoa, is the world's largest producer of the commodity, used to manufacture chocolate. The crop is vital to the country's economy. Since the start of the uprising, world cocoa prices have soared to near 17-year highs.
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Consolidating their military grip on the north and centre of Cote d'Ivoire, and trying to expand their reach to the west, Gbagbo's heartland, places the rebels in a position of military strength should negotiations with the authorities resume.
But West African peace brokers will be scratching their heads Monday night after the decision by the mutineers to break off all further contact with the Gbagbo government. The regional envoys will be wondering what fresh diplomatic initiatives they can employ to try to bring the two sides together again.
Regional leaders have expressed their deep concern that if peace mediation failed in Cote d'Ivoire, the conflict could spread over its borders to other parts of West Africa.
