Johannesburg — Speaking in Cote d'Ivoire's commercial capital, Abidjan, President Laurent Gbagbo has described the French-brokered peace plan he accepted at the weekend in Paris as a set of "proposals".
On Sunday, Gbagbo urged calm and compromise, saying that since he "did not win the war," he had been obliged to follow an alternative route, to talk and agree to concessions.
But by later implying that he had yet fully to endorse the contents of the deal that he signed, Gbagbo appeared to be backsliding, almost inevitably injecting doubt into the feasibility of implementing the French-mediated efforts to end the four months civil war in Cote dIvoire.
Gbagbos utterances, Monday, came on the third straight day of anti-French riots in the main city, Abidjan. The protests were led by government and Gbagbo supporters incensed at the concessions made in Paris to the rebels who control half the country, including northern Cote dIvoire and parts of the west.
The Ivorian leader hinted that any parts of the deal that would require constitutional changes were not final. He stressed that any such amendments proposed by the peace package would have to be put before a referendum.
"Even if we take what was said and drawn up in Marcoussis, we are obliged to ask the people," Gbagbo said. He added that no vote could be held while "a part of our territory is occupied" - a reference to rebel-controlled zones.
Gbagbos new wording employs a subtle, semantic distinction on the interpretation of the peace plan by African leaders, United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, French president, Jacques Chirac, and the European Union chief, Romano Prodi, all of whom witnessed the ratification of the deal in Paris at the weekend.
His new position, taken at face value, clearly falls short of the comprehensive power-sharing agreement drawn up in France, after nine days of all-party talks, including Cote d'Ivoire's three rebel groups, at Linas-Marcoussis, outside Paris.
Rebel Cabinet posts
The main rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote dIvoire (MPCI) claimed Saturday that it had been given the key defence and interior ministries. The rebels say control of these important portfolios would give them the confidence to disarm - a stipulation of the peace deal.
But the unconfirmed news about the rebel cabinet posts prompted an immediate explosion of anti-rebel and anti-French anger in Abidjan. Outraged at the prospect, tens of thousands of angry protestors took to the streets, targetting the French embassy and military base in the city and a French secondary school, as well as suspected French nationals. French shops and business concerns were looted.
The protestors accuse the former colonial power of forcing a humiliating peace agreement on Gbagbo and legitimising the rebellion. They say the accord favours the rebels, which they deem an unacceptable insult.
"France has killed us and killed democracy, how can we give control of our army to the rebels?" asked a bitter Charles Ble Goude, a firebrand Ivorian youth ringleader and organiser of pro-Gbagbo rallies in Abidjan and other government-held towns during past weeks.
The simmering resentment growing against the Cote d'Ivoire rebels in Abidjan may be giving them sleepless nights and second thoughts about whether their security could be guaranteed, should they take up their posts in the southern city that they failed to seize during the failed coup. The city has remained under the control of the army loyal to Gbagbo.
The violent demonstrations continued overnight Saturday, reaching a peak on Sunday. Soldiers, dispatched by Paris to monitor a ceasefire between the rebels and the Ivorian loyalist army, responded with tear gas and stun grenades to try to push back the angry crowds from their military base and embassy. But the marchers again unleashed their fury and frustration on Monday, abandoning their protests only after Gbagbos pleas for calm.
Mobs, some brandishing machetes, clubs and other makeshift weapons, roamed the streets of Abidjan, reportedly hunting down people thought to be French and pulling foreigners out of cars. Stone-throwing protestors again attacked the French diplomatic mission in downtown Abidjan, but were kept beyond the embassys huge metal gates which remain under heavy French military guard and the watchful eye of sharpshooters.
After a brief televised appearance, Monday, appealing for the demonstrators to stop their protests and go back home - or to work - Gbagbo received a tense group of young men, many wearing white war paint on their faces, who converged on his presidential palace in Abidjan. "Whatever you have heard is just rumours and speculation," Gbagbo told state-run television.
'No betrayal'
Speaking later to hard-core supporters, outside his office, Gbagbo announced, to loud cheers: "Do not worry, what was said in Marcoussis are proposals." He added: "I am not ready to betray you." Gbagbo was clearly trying to reassure the youth, who make up an important part of the popular constituency that propelled him to power in a street revolution, during the flawed October 2000 presidential election.
At that time, the youth on the street were eventually backed by gendarmerie, the paramilitary police, and the army who also rallied to Gbagbos support to chase out the then military leader, General Robert Guei, who tried to rob him of electoral victory.
But the 2000 presidential poll was condemned by Gbagbos critics, because it excluded the main opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, on grounds that he was not fully Ivorian - a fact which triggered more discontent, division and violent ethnic and political clashes.
The Ivorian president said he would consult parliamentarians and, crucially, the army, which has remained loyal to Gbagbo since the failed coup last September. Gbagbo is well aware that the continued good will of the armed forces is essential to holding onto control of the country.
Army unhappy
But the security forces are also unhappy with the Paris deal, which they described as "humiliating". They are still digesting unconfirmed reports that the suggested allocation of cabinet posts would put them under the control of the rebel forces they have been fighting since 19 September - but have failed to defeat.
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"Some of the points of the accord are of a nature to humiliate the security and defence forces, the state and the Ivorian people," the army spokesman said on Sunday.
Cote dIvoires armed forces have been fighting what can only be called a losing battle against the rebels, making it difficult for the army to countenance the prospect of having their erstwhile adversaries as their new bosses. A declaration was eagerly awaited from the Ivorian military chief of staff.
Gbagbo told his supporters in Abidjan, Monday: "The day I am in an untenable situation or forced to betray you, I will tell you that I am no longer president. But we havent got to that point yet, so there is no cause for worry. As long as my signature is of some value, be reassured, I remain at the helm. Leave the streets and return to your homes."
But Gbagbos new language describing the accord's provisions as simply 'proposals is bound to stir lingering doubts and concerns on all sides, since the widely held assumption was that the deal was binding, with the appointment of a new consensus prime minister, Seydou Diarra. Diarra is supposed to set up a coalition government of national reconciliation and assume some of Gbagbos diminishing powers, an idea also denounced by the president's followers.
