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West African leaders to hold mini-summit as crisis drags on

Country Map - Cote d'Ivoire (Yamoussoukro) National Democratic Institute
The government is still trying to free Bouake and Korhogo from the hands of mutineers
Five West African heads of state are to meet on Monday in Kara, Togo, to discuss the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire and efforts to resolve it, according to a report on the official Togolese website, RepublicofTogo. The five presidents are John Kufuor (Ghana), Omar Bongo (Gabon), Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal) and Togo’s Gnassingbe Eyadema. Eyadema heads a contact group of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that has been mediating between the Ivorian government and the rebel Mouvement Patriotique de Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI). The mediation effort followed a 17 October ceasefire signed by the rebels, who occupy much of the north and centre of the country, and accepted by the government. While the two sides reached agreement on some of the rebels’ demands, they have failed thus far to agree on political issues. Eyadema travelled this week to Abidjan to meet with Cote d’Ivoire’s main political parties. The meeting yielded a declaration on Thursday, in which the parties expressed support for the Lome negotiation process, condemned the rebellion and asked the MPCI to free occupied towns without delay and disarm. "We reaffirm our attachment to constitutional legality, respect for institutions and respect for territorial integrity," said the parties, which also pledged to "ensure the implementation of the peace agreement that results from the Lome negotiations". They added: "We commit ourselves to pursuing discussions with the government, once peace has been restored, on political issues, with a view to strengthening national cohesion and unity, in particular those related to nationality, rural land ownership" and the implementation of the resolutions of a national reconciliation forum held in late 2001. The document was signed by Cote d’Ivoire’s main political parties. However, the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) whose leader Alassane Ouattara has been in Gabon since fleeing the country in late November, disassociated itself from the political parties' declaration. It said in a statement on Thursday that the head of its delegation at Thursday's talks in Abidjan had signed under duress. The RDR's executive said in a statement on Thursday that the declaration "[did] not take into consideration all the present socio-political realities". It "does not involve any precise commitments with regard to the implementation of concrete political reforms with a view to ending the crisis that is rocking our country," the RDR added. The political declaration came as both sides in the conflict embarked on a massive recruitment drive in parts of the country that are under their control. In Abidjan, thousands of youths flocked to the gendarmes training school this week in response to a call by the government for 3,000 volunteers. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France announced on Wednesday that the French government was increasing the 1,200 soldiers it has deployed in Cote d’Ivoire to protect French citizens and other foreigners, and to monitor the ceasefire. It said that, in the face of the deterioration of the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, France wished to express its concern and its conviction that there could be no lasting solution to the crisis outside of a general political settlement involving all Ivorian political forces. France also expressed its willingness to contribute to the peace effort by hosting in Paris an African summit along with a meeting of all

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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