Ethno-Net Database: Côte d'Ivoire

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Several rebel ministers have already returned to Abidjan following Monday's decision by the "New Forces" occuping the north of the country to return to a broad-based government of national reconciliation, government and rebel officials said on Friday.

Ahmed Toure, the official spokesman of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, and Ahmadou Kone, a senior aide of rebel leader Guillaume Soro, said several of the eight rebel ministers who quit the government on 23 September were already back in the capital.

However, Toure said the first cabinet meeting at which all nine rebel ministers would be present for the first time in over three months, would not be held until 6 January at the earliest.

One rebel minister, Roger Banchi, the Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, defied the order to walk out in protest at President Laurent Gbagbo's failure to fully implement a peace agreement signed in January. He remained part of the 41-member coalition cabinet throughout the rebel boycott.

Kone told IRIN by telephone from the rebel capital Bouake that although many rebel ministers were already back in Abidjan, Soro, who is Minister of Communications, was still "travelling."

Diarra, a former civil servant who has been charged with implementing the French-brokered peace agreement and leading Cote d'Ivoire to fresh elections in 2005, said earlier this week that the civil war was costing Cote d'Ivoire US$17 million a day.

He told the French daily Liberation in an interview pubished on Wednesday that this was a "a price which no-one can afford right now."

The conflict erupted in September 2002, but a ceasefire enforced by French and West African peacekeeping troops has held firm since the beginning of May, despite a rise in tension after the rebels withdrew from government.

Diarra, who like the rebels had been frustrated by Gbagbo's earlier refusal to delegate effective power to his government, told Liberation that the president had now given him a free hand to do what was necessary.

"President Gbagbo has left me alone to develop my own autonomous strategy without interference," he said.

Rebels occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire said on Monday they had agreed to return to the country's government of national reconciliation, three months after they walked out in protest at President Laurent Gbagbo's failure to implement fully a peace agreement signed in January.

"We have decided to come back" Amadou Kone, the director of the office of rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told IRIN by telephone from the rebel capital Bouake.
The decision to send eight rebel ministers back to the 41-strong cabinet led by Prime Minister Seydou Diarra was endorsed by Master Sargent Ibrahim Coulibaly, a veteran coup plotter who some fighters would like to see take over the leadership of the rebel movement.

"I am very much in favour of the return of these ministers to government. The policy of allowing chairs to remain empty has never paid off," Coulibaly, who is popularly known as "IB," told the French news agency AFP.

Coulibaly, who helped to plan a successful coup in Cote d'Ivoire in 1999, was arrested in France last August on suspiscion of plotting to overthrow Gbagbo. He was released after a few weeks in custody, but has been ordered not to leave the country.

Kone said the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," planned to resume their seats in government somewhen between Christmas and the New Year.

He said the timing of their return to Abidjan hinged on the final recommendations of the military wing of the rebel movement, which was assessing security arrangements for the rebel ministers in Abidjan.

Sidiki Konate, the official spokesman of the New Forces, told BBC that the rebel ministers would take up their posts on Friday.

Eight of the nine rebel ministers walked out of the coalition cabinet on September 23 in protest at Gbagbo's failure to delegate effective powers to the government and his delay in implementing key aspects of the peace agreement.

However, one rebel representative, Roger Banchi, the Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, defied the order to quit and stayed at his post.

The rebels decision to return to government after three months during which Cote d'Ivoire's fragile peace process began to look increasingly uncertain was greeted with cautious optimism in the commercial capital Abidjan.

Alain Toussaint, a close aide of President Laurent Gbagbo who often acts as his spokesman, told IRIN that it was a good decision that showed each side was working towards peace.

But a United Nations diplomat said he would contain his joy until the rebel ministers actually turned up for a cabinet meeting.

West African leaders, France and the United Nations have been involved in intense diplomacy since the end of October to try and defuse the row between Gbagbo and the rebels and put the peace process back on track.

On one hand they have been quietly pressing Gbagbo to implement every aspect of the French-brokered peace agreement, even the concessions to rebel demands he's been reluctant to honour.

On the other, they have been putting heavy pressure on the rebels to return to government.

Last Friday, the emergence of open dissent in the rebel movement between supporters of Soro, a civilian and former activist of the opposition Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party of Alassane Ouattara, and Coulibaly, a charismatic military figure, threatened to tear the New Forces apart.

On Friday, a group of rebel fighters, led by a little-known rebel commander known as "Kass," marched into the television station in Bouake to broadcast cricitims of present rebel leadership and demand that Coulibaly be recognised as its supreme leader

Kone told IRIN that the incident had been resolved and that Soro remained the leader of the New Forces, while Coulibaly held no official position in the rebel movement, which is officially composed of Soro's Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) and two smaller rebel groups. "IB is not even an official of the party," Kone said.

However, the nascent rift, which could cast a new curse in the peace process, appeared to be still alive on Monday. AFP quoted several European representatives of the rebel movement as saying that Coulibaly had been acclaimed president of the New Forces at a meeting of rebel representatives in the northern Ivorian town of Korhogo two weeks ago.

Once the rebels do return to government, the next challenge will be to build up enough trust between the two sides to start the long-delayed process of disarmament.

Disarmament was supposed to have started on 15 December, but diplomats said there was little prospect of the rebels surrending their weapons until a UN-led peacekeeping force was deployed in Cote d'Ivoire to supervise the process.

There are currently 4,000 French peacekeepers and 1,400 West African troops maintaining an eight-month-old ceasefire. But military sources said nearly twice as many peacekeepers would be needed to conduct a disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation programme.

12 / 12 / 2003

IRIN

"12 morts dans un affrontement avec des soldats à Abidjan"

12 hommes armés, vêtus de T-shirts noirs ont été abattus à Abidjan jeudi nuit, au cours d'une fusillade qui a suivi l'attaque des principales casernes militaires de la ville, a rapporté la télévision nationale vendredi matin.

Cinq autres hommes en armes seraient morts au cours d'une autre attaque, lancée contre le centre émetteur de la Radio Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) dans le quartier d'Abobo, à l'Ouest d'Abidjan, ont relaté des sources militaires à IRIN.

Tous les morts portaient les mots "Brigade Nindja" inscrits au dos de leurs T-shirts, ont déclaré les mêmes sources.

"Brigade Nindja" est le nom d'une des milices pro-gouvernementales à Abidjan, qui serait prétendument entraînée et armée par le gouvernement après la tentative de coup d'état organisée par les soldats mutins le 19 septembre.

Un officier supérieur de l'armée, qui a gardé l'anonymat, a affirmé que des investigations étaient en cours. Il a ajouté que l'on suspectait les attaques de découler d'une infiltration des soldats rebelles, qui, depuis la tentative de coup d'état sont les maîtres du Nord du pays.

"Les corps seront examinés un à un pour déterminer l'identité de ces personnes. C'est vraiment étrange et peu probable que les milices pro-gouvernementales puissent attaquer des casernes de l'armée," a expliqué l'officier à IRIN, vendredi matin.

Les hommes armés, a révélé l'officier, ont été conduits à au camp militaire d'Akouédo dans des véhicules 4x4 et des mini-vans, au moment où les tirs commençaient à Abobo.

Devant la réplique des soldats de l'armée nationale, ils ont battu en retraite en direction du quartier chic de Cocody. Ils ont été tués dans des combats continus autour du carrefour populairement surnommé 'carrefour de la mort', non loin des bâtiments principaux de la RTI, a annoncé l'officier.

La radio d'Etat a rapporté les propos de Jean-Paul Dahily, Secrétaire-général de la RTI, confirmant que des hommes armés avaient attaqué la télévision, mais avaient été repoussés et tués par les forces de sécurité.

Selon la télévision nationale, un autre incident a eu lieu à Anyama, une banlieue de classe moyenne, près d'Abobo. Tous les trois incidents se sont déroulés après minuit.

"Il y a certains qui ne connaissent toujours pas "la paix", et quoiqu'ils cherchent, ils l'auront tôt ou tard", a prononcé le chef d'état-major, le Général Mathias Doué à la RTI, en visite sur les lieux du drame avec le ministre de la Défense, René Amani.

"Nous sommes engagés sur la voie de la paix, et ce sont les derniers soubresauts que nous constatons", a déclaré‚ l'ancien ministre de la Défense, Bertin Kadet, qui se trouvait également sur le théâtre des événements.

La Côte d'Ivoire a expérimenté des turbulences politiques depuis la tentative de coup d'état en 2002. Les rebelles ont signé un accord de paix en France, en janvier, et ont rejoint un gouvernement d'unité nationale. En septembre, ils ont toutefois quitté le gouvernement pour se retrancher dans leur base de Bouaké.

Des soldats de l'armée régulière, révoltés, ont réclamé que le gouvernement leur permette de combattre les rebelles, faisant irruption à la télévision nationale le 30 novembre pour exiger la démission de leurs supérieurs, les accusant de mal gérer la situation.

Au cours des deux dernières semaines, les rebelles qui ont indiqué qu'ils pourraient retourner à Abidjan, ont envoyé une délégation cette semaine rencontrer les officiers militaires des Forces Armées de Côte d'Ivoire (FANCI), et de hautes autorités du gouvernement pour discuter du désarmement des combattants.

At every rebel checkpoint it is the same story. A dozen kids gather around the car, some of them carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, one or two shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher; all of them begging for money.

Some play it cool, posing on the sandbags like junior Rambos. Others scuttle around excitedly, searching bundles of luggage as if they hoped to find toys inside. A few metres away, sitting in the shade of a mango tree, the adult fighters look on impassively while the child soldiers, most of them aged between 10 and 15, do their work.

Each of the six rebel checkpoints between the end of the buffer zone guarded by French peacekeeping troops and the western city of Man is manned by children who in any normal country would still be at school. Nobody pays them, so they simply beg or extort money from passing vehicles to survive.

There are about 10 more checkpoints along the 80 km highway from Man to Danane, near the Liberian frontier. And here again it s the same story.

One boy who looks to be no more than 14 comes up to the car window, holding out his right hand. In the left he casually holds an automatic rifle. "Big brother, our pockets are empty," he pleads. "You should leave something to put in our tummy.... Big guy, think of your little brother."

Rebel commanders declined to tell IRIN how many child soldiers had been recruited into their ranks since a failed coup plunged Cote d'Ivoire into civil war in September 2002 and left rebel forces controlling the north of the country.

"Give us time to set up a unit to identify the children before you ask us how many of them there are," said Dely Gaspard, the military commander of the rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) in Man, the main town in Cote d Ivoire s far west, also controlled by rebels.

The United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) would like to take the guns away from the child soldiers and put most of them back into school. But with tension rising and a ten-month-old peace process running into the sand, rebel commanders are not prepared to let go of all their junior fighters just yet.

UNICEF has set up three centres for demobilised child soldiers two for boys and one for girls - in Bouake, about 380 km north of Abidjan. UNICEF also has four open centres in the rebel capital, where the children receive food plus guidance aimed at facilitating their return to civilian life, but do not spend the night.

UNICEF 's representative in Man, Francis Zacko, said it was now up to the authorities in the rebel-held town to designate centres where disarmed child soldiers could be accommodated.

The situation of child fighters from Liberia who drifted across the border with gangs of Liberian and Sierra Leonean mercenaries that fought with the rebels in western Cote d'Ivoire is more complicated.

Most of the Liberian mercenaries were sent home in May, but they left behind a group of 21 child soldiers in Man. These were disarmed by the Ivorian rebels and lived in shacks around the town's empty and deserted prison. Its cells were unlocked and its prisoners were released by the rebels long ago.

One of them, who gave his name as "AB," told IRIN that he abandoned school in Nimba county in northern Liberia last year and crossed the border before the war started in Cote d'Ivoire to learn to be a driver. When rebel forces seized control of the west shortly afterwards, they thrust a gun into his hands and told him to fight.

"They gave me a gun and I followed after them without even knowing how to fire it," he told IRIN.

He was forced to learn soon enough. For AB war was not just a case of extorting small change from passers-by at sleepy checkpoints. It was real fighting. The 16-year-old lifted up his T-shirt to show a scar where in one battle a bullet had ricocheted off a nearby wall into his belly.

Some of his friends had fingers and toes missing as a result of injuries sustained in combat. All of them hung around, with little to eat, molested by mosquitoes that breed in nearby puddles, waiting for the world to come to their rescue.

The Ivorian army and the rebel "New Forces" have agreed to continue removing weapons from armed fighters and to pull troops and weapons back from a ceasefire line that runs from east to west of the country until Christmas day, sources said.

The two sides, which held a marathon meeting at the rebel headquarters of Bouake on Wednesday, also agreed to dismantle unnecessary check points.

The Ivorian national army, the FANCI and the rebel fighters, started withdrawing men and weapons who had been positioned too close the ceasefire line that is manned by French soldiers, on Saturday.

A communique issue at the end of the meeting said starting on 26 December, a commission to be headed by officials of the UN Mission in Cote d Ivoire, would oversee the removal of more checkpoints and weapons.

It was agreed that entry and exit checkpoints would remain on all major cities, the communique said.

At another meeting in the commercial capital, Abidjan, representatives of the "New Forces" met the Prime Minister to discuss a return to a government of national unity. They were led by Louis-Andre Dacoury-Tabley, a senior rebel leader.

Rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate told IRIN that the delegation was satisfied with the meetings, without going into details.

Cote d Ivoire slid into turmoil after a failed coup d etat turned into a rebellion on 19 September 2002. Since then the country has remained divided between the government-controlled south and rebel-controlled north.

Wednesday's meeting was a follow-up to another meeting one week ago in Yamoussoukro, at which the government and rebels vowed to make disarmament a reality. President Laurent Gbagbo gave his backing to a French-brokered peace deal and said that he would travel to Bouake to officially announce the end of war.

But the rebels, who pulled out of government on 23 September, raised objections later in the week, threatening the process again which had stalled.

In the last few weeks, the rebels, who cited lack of security for their ministers and failure by President Gbagbo to implement the peace agreement as reason for withdrawing from the government, have come under pressure from West African States, France, the United Nations, the European Union and others to return to government.

The UN s Humanitarian Envoy, Carolyn McAskie, reiterated the international community s plea when, in meeting rebel leader Guillaume Soro on Tuesday, she asked that the rebels "leave the past behind [and] return to the government to [re]construct the country."

Sources said the rebels were actually on the verge of returning to government last week, but they were put off by anti-French and anti-rebel demonstrations in Abidjan, sources told IRIN.

Rebel fighters slammed their leaders for agreeing to disarm. One fighter, based in the northern town of Korhogo, said he was unhappy that his leaders had agreed to disarmament while there was nothing on the table for those who had fought.

Ivorian rebel leaders who met the Prime Minister Seydou Diarra in the commercial capital, Abidjan, on Wednesday discussed the return of the rebels who control the northern half of the country into the government of national unity, diplomatic sources said.

The rebel delegation, led by a senior official of the "New Forces" Louis-Andre Dakoury-Tabley, flew into Abidjan in the morning as their colleagues in Bouake, the rebel capital, met a delegation of the Ivorian army.

Amadou Kone, a member of the rebel delegation in Abidjan declined to comment on what was discussed with Diarra. The Prime Minister had already met the rebels on Saturday at their headquarters in Bouake, 379 km north of Abidjan.

Sources said the meeting in Bouake between the Armed Forces of Cote d Ivoire and the military wing of the rebels would map out a calendar for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of combatants.

The Bouake meeting followed a resolution agreed at a meeting held last week in the capital Yamoussoukro, during which President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebels agreed to begin the DDR process on Monday.

Diplomats however said it was unlikely that the DDR process would start on Monday. But according to the meeting s final communiqui, the removal of unnecessary checkpoints would begin on 15 December as the first step towards DDR.

The rebels, who have come under intense pressure from heads of West African states, the United Nations and ECOWAS to return to Abidjan, told the UN special envoy, Carolyn McAskie on Tuesday that they were wiling to discuss a return to Abidjan.

Sources told IRIN that the rebels had been on the verge of returning to government last week, but demonstrations by pro-government youths against the rebels and French forces separating the two warring groups, in Abidjan and the central town of M Bahiakro, scared the rebels.

On the last day of a three-day mission, McAskie said it was important for the rebels to return to Abidjan so that peace can return to the war-torn country.

"Leave the past behind, return to the government table to (re) construct the country," McAskie told a news conference after meeting on Tuesday with rebel leader, Guillaume Soro.

McAskie told reporters that events in recent days, particularly a recent meeting in Yamoussoukro, had renewed her hopes and that it was time for "all political leaders to show their political leadership by following the population in its willingness to seek peace."

The rebels pulled out of a government of national unity created in January on 23 September, citing lack of security for their ministers and slowness in implementing a peace agreement signed in January in France.

Cote d'Ivoire erupted in conflict on 19 September 2002 when soldiers attempted to topple Gbagbo. The soldiers retreated and seized control of the north and west of the country, setting up their headquarters in Boauke. The country has since remained divided.

Ivorian rebels met the United Nations humanitarian envoy, Carolyn McAskie, on Tuesday at their headquarters in Bouake, 380 km north of the commercial capital, Abidjan, and confirmed that they would send a delegation to meet government officials to explore ways to return to a government of national unity.

Amadou Kone, an aide to the Secretary General of the rebel "New Forces" Guillame Soro, told IRIN by telephone, that the delegation would go to Abidjan on Wednesday. It would include two civilians and two military persons led by a senior rebel leader, Louis-Angre Dacoury-Tabley.

They are expected to meet the Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, the UN Special Representative, Albert Tevoedjre, as well as Assistant Secretary-General Heidi Hannabi who is presently leading a mission in Abidjan.

The delegation would depart Bouake at 0600 am and stay in Abidjan for a day, Kone said. He added that McAskie had appealed to them to take a "step forward" in their negotiations.

"Of all the meetings that we ve had since 23 September when we left government, this meeting [with McAskie] was very fruitful," Kone said.

The meeting between the rebel delegation and government officials will be held as part of the calendar of actions that was agreed upon on Thursday at a meeting in Yamoussoukro between President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebels.

Gbagbo and the "New Forces" met for nearly four hours and agreed that from 15 December both sides would remove unnecessary checkpoints as a first stage in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process.

The president was thereafter due to travel to Bouake to launch the disarmament process.

But the rebels again backtracked on Sunday, saying they were neither ready to disarm nor return to rejoin a government of national unity in Abidjan but released on Sunday 40 prisoners of war. Sources said the rebels were hardened by street protests organised by pro-Gbagbo youth militants.

McAskie, who flew from Abidjan to Bouake, met rebel leader Guillaume Soro and appealed to him to seek a peaceful resolution of the Ivorian crisis.

On Monday she met Gbagbo and repeated her appeal for a peaceful resolution to the Ivorian crisis.

Cote d'Ivoire sunk into crisis on 19 September 2002 when a coup attempt against Gbagbo failed. the rebellious soldiers seized control of the north and west of the country and have since remained there.

After being given nine posts in a government of national reconciliation following a peace agreement signed in France in January, the "New Forces" suspended participation in the government in September. They cited lack of security for their ministers and a delay by Gbagbo to implement parts of the agreement.

Intense diplomatic efforts has since been on to try and persuade the rebels to return to Abidjan.

According to humanitarian agencies, between 500,000-600,000 people have been internally displaced by the continuing conflict while thousands of other citizens from several West African nationals have been forced to flee and return to their countries.

Bouake, which is the country's second largest city, has for example been greatly affected by population movements, the closure of the administrative services and insuffiicient basic social services.

The UN has launched an appeal for US $59 million to assist war-affected civilians.

Rebels who control northern Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday freed 40 government soldiers held prisoner for over a year, but again ruled out a quick return to Abidjan to rejoin the government of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra.

Sidiki Konate, spokesman for the "New Forces", told a news conference in the rebel-held northern town of Korhogo that the release of the prisoners did not signal a return by the rebels to the government they abandoned on 23 September.

"There are people who would benefit if war were to restart in the country. We will meet to decide when to return to Abidjan only after the government is able to control those war mongers, guarantee our security and ease tension in the country," Konate said.

He said a visit to the rebel headquarters of Bouake by Prime Minister Seydou Diarra on Saturday had failed to convince them to immediately return to government.

The freed soldiers were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the presence of West African peacekeepers, French and Ivorian army representatives and United Nations observers, by the Chief of staff of the rebel "New Forces", Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko.

Thirty three of the men climbed aboard a French army aircraft in Korhogo for a short flight to Bouake, where the aircraft picked up another eight freed men. It then flew to Abidjan.

Col Bakayoko told IRIN the decision to release the men was reached over three months ago at a meeting between the "New Forces", the UN, ECOWAS, French and Ivorian army representatives. It was done in accordance with an amnesty passed by the Ivorian government.

"The release should have been done earlier when the Ivorian army released six of our men but there was a delay," Col Bakayoko said.

"These men were captured after combat in Bouake in October 2002. They were good soldiers who were doing their job. It was not their fault...so we decided not to treat them as prisoners but as brothers in arms. They were treated properly," he added.

The French plane was later welcomed in Abidjan by five government ministers, UN officials and observers from the West African military mission in Cote d'Ivoire, the spokesman of the Ivorian national army, Aka N Goran, told IRIN.

The rebels launched simultaneous attacks on the commercial capital, Abidjan, Bouake and Korhogo on 19 September 2002 in an attempt to topple President Laurent Gbagbo. The failed coup has turned into a prolonged conflict with the rebels in control of the north of the country.

In January a peace agreement was signed in France, paving way for the rebels to join a government of national unity led by Diarra. But the rebels withdrew from the government in September, citing lack of security, mistrust and foot-dragging by Gbagbo in implementation of the peace agreement.

Diplomats in Abidjan told IRIN that the rebels wanted to return to Abidjan last week, but a clash between French soldiers and pro-Gbagbo youths, a televised demand by unhappy soldiers for the resignation of the army chief of staff and protests around the French army base in Abidjan had forced the rebels to backtrack.

The release of prisoners of war was confirmed in a meeting held on Thursday in the capital, Yamoussoukro, 266 km north of Abidjan. Gbagbo attended the meeting with his army chief of staff and announced that he would travel to Bouake to launch the disarmament process.

But Bakayoko told IRIN in Korhogo on Sunday: "Disarmament is a long process. It is a step by step processes that cannot be hurried. And its just one aspect of the peace agreement. At the moment one side controls all...there are all sorts of roadblocks."

He denounced Gbagbo's proposed visit to Bouake. "He invited himself to Bouake and that is as far it is," he said.

Other rebels soldiers told IRIN, they were unhappy that the government still held rebel prisoners of war, including Sgt Youssouf Outtara, the rebel head of operations in Abidjan who was captured three months ago. The soldiers said he was being held at a gendarmerie camp in Koumassi.

Meamwhile two West African officers, one Nigerian and one Togolese, were injured in accident on the way from Korhogo airport after witnessing the handover of the freed prisoners.

The government army and rebel forces occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire each withdrew from frontline positions close to the French-patrolled buffer zone between them on Friday ahead of talks on disarmament next week.

Hardline youth groups supporting President Laurent Gbagbo meanwhile ended four days of protest demonstrations outside the French military base near Abidjan airport, where they had been demanding the departure of French peacekeepers from the frontline so that government forces could attack the north.

We are provisionally leaving the gates of the BIMA [Battalion of Marine Infantry] as a sign of appeasement , Charles Ble Goude, the leader of the militia-style youth groups known as "Young Patriots," told IRIN.

But hopes of a more relaxed atmosphere in the West African country were put on hold by a series of clashes between police and gendarmes - both supposedly loyal to the government - in the commercial capital Abidjan.

Exchanges of gunfire were reported in at least three different parts of the city of three million people after a policeman was shot dead by a gendarme in unexplained circumstances.

Government officials contacted by IRIN declined to comment on the clashes. There is tradition of rivalry between the two forces and they have occasionally engaged in gunfights in the past.

On Thursday, Gbagbo met the rebel military commander, Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko, in the official capital Yamoussoukro, 220 km northwest of Abidjan, and the two men agreed that the long-delayed process of disarmament should start on 15 December.

At the same time, Gbagbo publicly committed himself to implementing in full a French-brokered peace agreement, signed in January.

Gbagbo, who had previously expressed his unwillingness to accept some aspects of the accord, promised to travel to the rebel capital Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire within the next few days to declare the 14-month civil war formally over.

Several news reports quoted the rebels' official spokesman, Sidiki Konate, as saying the agreement reached in Yamoussoukro had not yet been accepted by the rebels' political leadership.

However, Amadou Kone, a senior aide of rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told IRIN by telephone that the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," did indeed consider it binding.

"Altogether, we are in agreement with the spirit of the communique," Kone said. He confirmed that on 15 December, both sides would take a first step towards disarmament by removing unauthorised checkpoints.

However, Kone warned that it would still be some time before combatants started handing in their guns and returning to civilian life or going back to the army. None of the modalities are in place. What to do with those who disarm? How and where will they disarm? he said.

The Yamoussoukro accord brought hopes of ending an increasingly tense stand-off between the two sides since the rebels withdrew from a broad-based government of national reconciliation in September and froze plans to hand in their weapons.

However, Kone said the New Forces had not yet taken a decision on when to send back to Abidjan eight of their nine ministers, who withdrew from the coalition cabinet nearly two and a half months ago.

The French government issued a statement on Friday, saying the necessary conditions were now in place and the rebel ministers should return to government as soon as possible "in order to play a full part in resolving the crisis."

"I hope that we are on the right path but I can not guarantee it. France will do everything to prevent clashes in Cote d'Ivoire" French President Jacques Chirac said while on state visit in Tunisia.

Gbagbo is slated to travel to Paris on official state visit where he will meet Chirac.

Diplomats and military sources concurred with Kone that a timetable for demobilising and disarming up to 30,000 rebel fighters and returning government administrators to the north of Cote d'Ivoire, had still to be worked out.

They also warned that there could still be more hiccups to come in the peace process.

The sources said the disarmament process was likely to take several months and would probably require the presence of 10,000 foreign peacekeepers to supervise it.

However, they pointed out that there were currently only 4,000 French soldiers and 1,400 West African peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire who were fully engaged in patrolling the demilitarised buffer zone between government and rebel forces.

A UN assessment mission arrived in Cote d'Ivoire earlier this week to consider whether the United Nations should deploy a fully fledged peacekeeping force in the country, as demanded by France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The United States, which pays for 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping operations and has differences with France over the policy to be pursued in Iraq, has so far resisted such a move.

The military sources said that 17 cantonment sites had already been designated; nine in the rebel-held north and eight in the south.

The government army would simply stage a supervised withdrawal to existing barracks in the south, taking with it all weapons and equipment, they said. The rebels, on the other hand, would gather in demobilisation centres where they would hand over their weapons to be peacekeepers, they added.

That should take 30 days, but in practice, not all cantonment centres would open at the same time and the entire disarmament process was likely to take considerably longer, they added.

Government and rebel leaders are due to meet again in Bouake on Wednesday next week to thrash out an exact timetable for disarmament.

Ivorian military sources said government forces withdrew as planned on Friday from the village of Allangouassou, which virtually lies on the ceasefire line, 60 km from Bouake. It was the scene of a confrontation last Sunday between French troops and a group of 200 pro-Gbagbo youths backed by Ivorian government soldiers who tried to march into rebel territory.

Before noon, as had been decided, our men left Allangouassou and returned to their initial position in M Bahiakro , a senior army officer of the national army told IRIN. He did not say how many men had moved back.

A French military source said rebel fighters meanwhile withdrew on Friday from Bania, another village close to the frontline in eastern Cote d'Ivoire.

The next agreed step is for all remaining prisoners of war to be released on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the death of Cote d'Ivoire's founding president, Felix Houphouet -Boigny.

Government and rebel military sources said the government had released its remaining prisoners of war following the passage of an amnesty law in August, but the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," were still holding 44 prisoners.

President Laurent Gbagbo announced on Thursday that the disarmament of rebel forces occupying the north of Cote d'Ivoire would begin on December 15 and he would travel to the rebel capital Bouake in the next few days to announce a formal end to the country's 14-month civil war.

Gbagbo made the surprise announcement after an hour-long meeting with government and rebel military commanders in the official capital Yamoussoukro. Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and top commanders from the French and West African peacekeeping forces in Cote d'Ivoire also attended the talks, which followed four days of rising tension in the government-controlled south of Cote d'Ivoire.

"I will announce in a few days the end of the war from Bouake so that all of Cote d'Ivoire and the world may know that Cote d'Ivoire is determined to go for peace," Gbagbo said.

Diplomats said they expected the president to fly to Paris shortly after his ground-breaking trip to Bouake for a meeting with President Jacques Chirac. They said Gbagbo would seek Chirac's support for a resumption of international aid to Cote d'Ivoire, a former French colony which became the most prosperous country in West Africa until it plunged into civil war in September last year.

A joint communique issued after the meeting in Yamoussoukro said the government and rebels would exchange prisoners of war on 7 December and begin the process of demobilisation and disarmament on December 15.

In a key concession to the rebels, who are officially known as "the New Forces," Gbagbo stated his commitment to implement a French-brokered peace agreement in its entirety. The president had previously expressed reluctance to implement some parts of the agreement, signed at Linas Marcoussis, near Paris on 24 January, saying it gave too much away to the rebels.

But Associated Press quoted Gbagbo as saying after the Yamoussoukro meeting: "I asked the prime minister to do everything possible to see to it that all of the text of Marcoussis be implemented as soon as possible."

The start of disarmament should pave the way for the government to restore its administration to the rebel-held north where most schools and health centres and all banks have been closed for the past year.

The rebels joined a broad-based government of national reconciliation in April, but pulled out in September, just before they were due to start handing in their weapons to French and West African peacekeepers. They protested that Gbagbo was dragging his feet over the implementation of key aspects of the Marcoussis accord and was refusing to delegate effective power to the coalition cabinet.

The rebels were represented at Thursday's meeting in Yamoussoukro by their military commander, Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko. A rebel spokesman in Bouake told IRIN that Bakayoko had been given clear instructions by the political leadership of the New Forces on how to handle the meeting.

Another rebel commander, Gaspard Dely, told IRIN by telephone from Bouake that Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration Committee would meet in the rebel stronghold on 10 December and in Abidjan two days later to begin working out a timetable for the cantonment of both government and rebel forces in special quartering areas and the surrender of weapons to French and West African peacekeeping forces.

"We are satisfied with what we heard this time round because it sounded like a head of state who wants to rule Cote d'Ivoire," Dely said.

He said the disarmament committee would also discuss the suppression of all unnecessary checkpoints in the country. These have become notorious cash generation machines for the security forces on both sides of the frontline.

The head of one major transport company in Cote d'Ivoire told IRIN earlier this week that lorry drivers undertaking the journey from Korhogo in the north of Cote d'Ivoire to the port city of Abidjan were forced to pay an average of US $500 to check points along the way, mostly in the government-held south. That equates to nearly one dollar for every km of the journey.

The apparent breakthrough in the peace process followed four days of rising tension in the government-held south of Cote d'Ivoire which began when 200 hardline youth supporters of Gbagbo attempted to march across the frontline to "liberate" Bouake on Sunday, accompanied by 100 Ivorian government soldiers. They were stopped in the demilitarised buffer zone between the two sides by peacekeepers forces who engaged in a fire fight with the Ivorian soldiers accompanying the militants and destroyed a tank.

That incident led to unidentified soldiers interrupting state television programmes to demand the sacking of the military chiefs of staff and an immediate resumption of war on the rebels.

Militia-style youth groups known as "Young Patriots" subsequently staged four days of demonstrations outside the French military base near Abidjan airport, demanding the departure of France's 4,000 peacekeepers from Cote d'Ivoire.

The crowd of several hundred demonstraters often threw stones and were repelled by tear gas.

However, the atmosphere became calmer on Wednesday afternoon after Charles Ble Goude, one of the Young Patriot leaders who is particularly close to Gbagbo announced that the demonstration should become a peaceful sit-in. He subsequently turned up with a mattress, sheets and a parasol to spend the night with his supporters outside the main gate of the base.

On Wednesday, the UN special envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, Albert Tevoedjre, flew to Bouake for talks with rebel leaders ahead of the Yamoussoukro meeting. A diplomatic source said that at the same time Gbagbo received calls from several influential people, whom he declined to identify, urging him to show more flexibility.

A UN mission is currently in Cote d'Ivoire to evaluate the situation in the country and present a report to Secretary General Kofi Annan on how the modest UN mission to the country can enhance its role. France and several West African countries have urged the UN Security Council to send a fully fledged peace-keeping force to Cote d'Ivoire on the scale of those in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

However the United States, which pays for 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping operations, has so far resisted such a move. The UN Security Council is due to reconsider the situation in January.

Diplomatic sources said Gbagbo himself had requested a force of 10,000 blue helmets for Cote d'Ivoire. There are currently 4,000 French troops and 1,400 West African peacekeepers in the country. They have successfully prevented fighting between the government and rebels for the past seven months.

Militia-style youth groups supporting President Laurent Gbagbo demonstrated in front of the French military base in Abidjan for the third day running on Wednesday. They also announced plans for a second attempt to march through the lines of French peacekeepers to attack the rebel stronghold of Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire.

Police said about 700 members of the "Young Patriots" movement demonstrated outside the French base near Abidjan airport to demand the withdrawal of a 4,000-strong French peacekeeping force which controls the demilitarised buffer zone between the government-held south and the rebel-controlled north of Cote d'Ivoire.

Gbagbo said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, published on Tuesday, that the peacekeepers, who have successfully managed to enforce an eight-month ceasefire between government and rebel forces, should remain in place.

And on Tuesday night the president gave lukewarm support to his three top military commanders, who had offered to resign after unidentified soldiers interrupted state radio and television broadcasts to complain that they were taking too soft a line against the rebels and should be removed.

The dissident soldiers made the impromptu broadcast on Sunday night shortly after French troops exchanged fire with Ivorian soldiers who were escorting about 200 Young Patriots in an attempt to march across the frontline to occupy Bouake.

Defence Minister Rene Amani said in a televised statement on Tuesday night that General Mathias Doue, the military chief of staff, General Denis Bombet, the head of the army, and General Gregoire Touvoly, the head of the paramilitary gendarmerie, had submitted letters of resignation to the president following Sunday's incidents.

But Amani said that Gbagbo, for the sake of achieving "a swift and happy outcome" to the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, had asked them to stay on.

"In the present situation, reason dictates that it is better to maintain unity in the army than to provoke a split in its ranks," he added.

Gbagbo avoided commenting on the status of the three military commanders in his interview with Le Figaro. But the president used the opportunity to express sympathy with the men who had tried unsuccessfully to march through the French lines.

"Basically you cannot blame them," he said.

In his television broadcast, Amani reminded Ivorians that the government had banned all public demonstrations for three months in October to avoid trouble in the streets.

But Charles Ble Goude, a Young Patriot leader who is close to Gbagbo and enjoys a police bodyguard, still brought out his supporters to continue their demonstrations at the French base in Abidjan on Wednesday. They were dispersed by riot police lobbing tear gas canisters at one stage, but subsequently regrouped.

Ble Goude also announced plans for a fresh attempt by the Young Patriots to march on Bouake on Friday.

On Thursday, representatives of the government, the army, French and West African peacekeepers and the rebels were due to discuss plans for disarmament in Yamoussoukro, the official capital of Cote d'Ivoire, 266 km north of Abidjan.

However, rebel spokesman Alain Logoognon made clear that the rebels, who withdrew from a broad-based government of national reconciliation in September, would not be attending the meeting.

"If those who should be guaranteeing our protection in Abidjan are themselves coming under attack, how do you expect us to return to the government?", he told IRIN by telephone from Bouake.

On Wednesday, the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," were holding talks with the UN-led international monitoring committee set up to supervise the implementation of a French-brokered peace accord signed in January.

On Tuesday night, the monitoring committee expressed "profound bitterness" that a month of high-level diplomacy by West African leaders to coax the rebels back into government had been undermined by Sunday's attempt by a group of 200 Young Patriots, backed by 100 government soldiers, to cross the demilitarised buffer zone along the frontline.

"The Monitoring Committee reiterates its conviction that war will lead nowhere and that the only positive way forward is (adherence to the peace) agreement, which everyone has subscribed to," it added.

French schools in Abidjan were closed on Wednesday as a precaution against possible attacks on French residents and other European residents in the city.

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