Obasanjo, Annan, others hold fresh talks on Ivoirien crisis
A RENEWED move to restore peace in strife-torn Cote d'Ivoire began yesterday in Accra, Ghana where President Olusegun Obasanjo, his counterparts in other African countries and the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, met for crucial talks.
The crisis erupted after a coup in the country in September 2002 and it has persisted despite a peace deal in January 2003 and the declaration of an end to hostilities in July this year.
At the opening of the meeting, Annan urged Ivoirien political and rebel leaders attending the two-day summit in their West African neighbour to bury personal rifts.
"I appeal to the Ivoirien parties here today to make full use of this opportunity. I look to you to put aside partisan and personal interests and work together in the spirit of commitment and compromise," he said. Other leaders at the meeting were those from Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo.
The leaders were also expected to discuss ways to end conflict and misery in Sudan's Darfur region this afternoon and obtain an update on the peace process in Liberia.
Thousands of people died and more than a million were uprooted from their homes since the initial outbreak of fighting in the economic capital, Abidjan and months of bloody clashes in the anarchic west near Liberia.
While the peace deal between Ivoirien rebels and the government was struck in Paris 18 months ago, the implementation of a political solution to the crisis has stalled and presidential elections are due to be held in 2005.
President Laurent Gbagbo says there can be no advance on key steps in the peace deal, such as who can run for president, until rebels controlling the north of the country lay down their guns.
The rebels in the former French colony, who now go by the name of the New Forces, say they don't trust Gbagbo to implement the deal, known as Linas-Marcoussis, and are refusing to disarm.
Annan told the summit that there had to be progress on the outstanding points outlined in the French-brokered deal.
He said a compromise should be found on the article in the constitution stopping an opposition leader from running for president and that there needed to be clarification on what powers consensus Prime Minister Seydou Diarra actually had.
Annan said a power-sharing government, effectively defunct since some opposition and rebel ministers walked out, should go back to work and a disarmament timetable needed to be agreed.
Camped in the middle are 4,000 French soldiers and another 6,240 troops being sent by the United Nations, mainly from Pakistan and Morocco, who are policing a confidence zone around the ceasefire line which bisects the nation.
