Johannesburg — Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo appealed for calm, Sunday, as rampaging mobs attacked French targets in the main city, Abidjan, in an explosion of fury over perceived pressure by Paris to force Gbagbo to sign a peace deal, which his supporters say favours the rebels.
The troubles started on Saturday after Gbagbo named former diplomat Seydou Diarra as his country's new consensus prime minister, with the job of heading an inclusive national unity reconciliation government.
To the consternation and outrage of his supporters back home, under the new agreement, significant presidential powers would shift from Gbagbo to the new prime minister, leading to a significant reduction in his authority.
The main rebel Popular Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI), who staged a failed coup on September 19, said in Paris, Saturday, that they were to be given the key defence and interior ministerial portfolios, sparking angry reaction in government-held Abidjan, the southern metropolis and commercial capital of Cote d'Ivoire.
Any such development would be deemed totally unacceptable by many in Gbagbo's southern stronghold, who feel the government should not have opened peace talks with the rebels in the first place, let alone agreed to what they consider excessive concessions to the insurgents. The rebels control the north of Cote d'Ivoire and parts of the west.
The rebels have long accused Gbagbo of discriminating against sections of the population and marginalising the north. Until the Paris talks, they had demanded his resignation. A senior African government official said their aim in the peace negotiation was to render Gbagbo powerless "like the queen of England," namely a constitutional head of state who did not exercise effective power.
But the Ivorian leader, himself a long-time opposition stalwart before he became president, is a tenacious and determined politician.
Gbagbo's goal in the talks was to ensure that the rebels disarm and the agreement does stipulate that the rebels must lay down their weapons. They are also to be offered an amnesty. In that sense, he has fully accomplished his key demand, whereas since Gbagbo continues in office, the rebels have been forced to compromise on theirs.
Rioters target France
Youths attacked French targets in Abidjan, including the embassy and the military base. Reports Sunday said French soldiers fired stun grenades to disperse protestors outside the embassy building in downtown Abidjan.
Latest reports said tens of thousands of Gbagbo supporters had taken to the streets, accusing the French of imposing the peace package on Cote d'Ivoire, its former colony. A French secondary school in Abidjan was also reportedly ransacked, while cars suspected of transporting French nationals were also targetted.
"I ask all Ivorians to stay calm and go back home and wait for me to come and speak to them. A crisis that lasts four months brings a heavy toll. So to get out of it, mutual concessions are necessary and I have made them," said Gbagbo, speaking from Paris where he was attending a two-day African presidential summit, hosted by the French.
Paris helped to broker a peace deal during a nine-day round table conference including government representatives and delegations from the main Ivorian political parties, as well as the rebels.
It was unclear whether the latest Abidjan protests were entirely spontaneous or government-sponsored, as earlier demonstrations in areas still under troops loyal to the government appear to have been.
It is not known how the peace agreement is being viewed within the armed forces, although reports so far suggest the barracks are calm.
African leaders have been generally supportive of the peace accord agreed early on Friday after the marathon negotiations outside Paris. The current chairman of the African Union (AU), South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki told the BBC: "It was a good result and we hope it will mean peace."
Cote d'Ivoire's western neighbour Liberia was represented at the summit by President Charles Taylor. He declared himself "very pleased". Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor, from across the eastern border, said: "It's all very positive and has everyone's support."
Gbagbo himself announced that the coalition administration would soon be announced and would have "two essential objectives: to lift Cote d'Ivoire out of war and to bring back prosperity."
The world's top cocoa producer, Cote d'Ivoire was once an island of stability and a regional magnet for people from all over West Africa, the jewel in the crown of an otherwise increasingly turbulent zone.
After the deal was drawn up, reports indicated that Gbagbo appeared reluctant to accept it, perhaps sensing that his followers would refuse to give it their blessing. The Ivorian leader is highly aware of popular sentiment among his supporters, who helped him sweep to power in what was hailed as a people's revolution in 2000, after disputed elections which the then military leader, Robert Guei, tried to steal.
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Guei's manipulation aside, the controversial poll excluded Cote d'Ivoire's main opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, on the grounds of nationality, leading to another explosion of violence and clashes between Ouattara's and Gbagbo's supporters. Several hundred people were killed.
Since the war broke out last September, several hundred more people have lost their lives in Cote d'Ivoire, now a divided nation wracked by ethnic and political tensions. The United Nations says up to one million people have been displaced.
The peace plan and new consensus government are intended to pave the way for new elections in Cote d'Ivoire, though the next scheduled poll is only in 2005. The deal also called for the creation of an international surveillance team to ensure that the accord is implemented and respected.
