Cote D'ivoire reconciliation process faces fresh test

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Cote D'ivoire reconciliation process faces fresh test

The reconciliation process in Cote D'ivoire suffered another setback on Monday when the long-awaited disarmament of fighters on both sides of the civil war was postponed indefinitely.

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The reconciliation process in Cote D'ivoire suffered another setback on Monday when the long-awaited disarmament of fighters on both sides of the civil war was postponed indefinitely.

Observers say the postponement, announced in a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, indicates that the parties involved are still bargaining over the disarmament program and the power-sharing arrangement in the transitional government.

No new date has been set for the beginning of the disarmament process, originally scheduled for Monday.

A press officer from the Prime Minister's Office said parties to the national unity government are consulting on the disarmamentagenda and a few problems needed to be clarified and ironed out.

The original deal, announced on Feb. 20 by Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, called for the disarmament of both the rebels and the fighters supporting President Laurent Gbagbo during the civil war that was sparked by a rebel uprising in Sept. 2002.

The rebels are still in control of the north and much of the western part of the country. Government troops control the south.

Six days after Diarra's announcement, rebel leader Guillaume Soro said from the Malian capital Bamako that his fighters would not put down their weapons until the scheduled "free and fair" elections are held in Oct. 2005.

On March 1, rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate told reporters that the disarmament should be linked with the political and military reforms enshrined in the Marcoussis agreement.

"Political and military reform must go hand in hand and therefore we await a new timetable that spells out the implementation of political reform as well as military reform," said Konate.

The Marcoussis pact, brokered in Jan. 2003 by France, was signed in the French town of Marcoussis in March 2003. Under the agreement, rebels were brought into a transitional government set up to restore peace in the world's leading cocoa producer.

Disarmament was one of the cornerstones of the Marcoussis pact.But more than a year after the pact's signing, the country remainsdivided. And despite a cease-fire since July 2003, a program to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate fighters on both sides has madelittle progress.

Moreover, the Democratic Party, once the single ruling party inthe west African country, on Thursday decided to suspend its participation in the national unity government, saying the Democratic Party had been deprived of power and management means when they managed their departments.

The Democratic Party holds seven ministerial portfolios in the transitional government.

The pullout of the Democratic Party aroused wide concern in Cote D'Ivoire and the disarmament commission on Sunday called on all parties to solve problems through negotiations and to push thepeace process forward in the interest of the people.

Observers here said the withdrawal had triggered a second political crisis since the rebels temporarily suspended its role in the government in Sept. last year.

There is still a long way to go in the reconciliation process in Cote D'Ivoire, they added.

Source: Xinhua

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