UN troops will help provide security at opposition rally

United Nations peacekeeping troops will help the Ivorian security forces maintain order at an opposition gathering in Abidjan on Saturday, a military spokesman of the newly established UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire said. "The security of the G7 (opposition alliance) and its supporters will be guaranteed by Ivorian security forces with supprt from blue helmets", the spokesman, Philippe Mathieu, told IRIN on Thursday. The opposition have announced plans to hold a memorial service in a sports stadium for those who died when government forces crushed a banned opposition demonstration in the city on 25 March. The government claims that 37 people died as police and troops opened fire on unarmed demonstrators and shadowy paramilitaries conducted house-to-house searches looking for opposition activists. But the opposition parties say 350 to 500 were killed during two days of street violence. Saturday's memorial service is due to take place in a sports stadium in the bustling commercial suburb of Treichville, one of the hotspots in last month's violence. Cote d'Ivoire's main Christian and Muslim religious leaders are due to attend the gathering. However, there are widespread fears that people going to and from the sports stadium will clash with members of the militia-style youth groups known as "Young Patriots that support President Laurent Gbagbo. The Young Patriots, who are viewed by the opposition as Gbagbo's political thugs, are due to hold a simultaneous rally in a sports stadium in the neighbouring suburb of Marcory to demand the immediate disarmament of rebel forces occupying the north of the country. Although Gbagbo has banned all public demonstrations until 30 April, he has ruled that rallies and other political meetings may still go ahead in "closed areas." Alphonse Djedje-Mady, the official spokesman of the G7 opposition alliance that includes the four main opposition parties in parliament and the "New Forces" rebel movement, warned that the Young Patriots' decision to hold a counter rally nearby and at the same time could spark a "conflagration." "It is childish, it is a provocation", said Djedje-Mady, who is secretary general of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire, the largest opposition party in parliament. "I hope the authorities will face up to their responsibility," he added. An Abidjan newspaper warned that last month's "Black Thursday," when the street violence erupted ,could all too easily be followed by a "Black Saturday." Amnesty International, opposition activists and foreign diplomats have accused the Young Patriots of participating in last month's killings. Internal Security Minister Martin Bleau has admitted that "parallel forces" were responsible for terrorising civilians in several working class areas of Abidjan, but he stopped short of blaming the violence on the Young Patriots." Gnamien Messou, a leader of the Young Patriots announced on television on Wednesday night that his movement planned a rally in the Marcory sports stadium on Saturday, but it remains to see whether it will actually go ahead. The police said on Thursday they had received no official request to authorise such a gathering, but they would be ready to deal with any tension that might arise. "We will take measures to protect the population on that day", a police source told IRIN. If the opposition-organised memorial service does take place, two of the five conditions set by the G7 opposition alliance for resuming participation in a broad-based government of national reconciliation will have been met. One of their other demands was for an international commission of inquiry into the bloody repression of last month's demonstration. That is being carried out by a team of UN-appointed human rights experts who are due to publish their report on 28 April. Three other pre-conditions-more balanced news coverage on state controlled radio and television, guarantees for the security of politicians and ordinary civilians, and authorisation for the G7 to hold a public rally- have yet to be met. Asked if the country would have to wait for all five preconditions to be met before the G7 sent their 26 ministers back to participate in the government, Djedje-Mady replied: "What we need to see is a first step."