Thousands demonstrate against Prime Minister and UN

Several thousand supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo attended a rally in Abidjan on Saturday to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra. They also demanded UN peacekeeping trops press ahead with the disarmament of rebels, known as the "New Forces." Many of the demonstrators wore blue scarfs, hats, plastic bags and even buckets on their head in mockery of the blue helmets worn by UN peacekeepers. Meanwhile, in the New Forces stronghold of Bouake, 400km north of Abidjan, equally large crowds turned out in support of the rebel leader, Guillaume Soro, who called for Gbagbo to resign. There was none of the violence that marked other recent demonstrations in Abidjan, but the two rallies were a stark reminder of the divisions that remain in Cote d'Ivoire 16 months after the signing of a French-brokered peace deal. The rally in Abidjan was organised by the "Young Patriots," a militia-style youth movement that supports Gbagbo. The main speaker was former student leader Charles Ble Goude, who is accompanied everywhere he goes by armed bodyguards in military uniform. “Seydou Diarra must resign!” Ble Goude yelled through his microphone at his supporters who packed an Abidjan sports stadium. Police estimated the turnout at 30,000 people. An IRIN correspondent at the scene said the crowd might have been larger. Government and opposition sources said that Diarra, an independent former civil servant who for 15 months has led a broad-based government of national reconciliation, threatened to resign as prime minister earlier this month. The embattled prime minister accused Gbagbo of unilaterally sacking three opposition ministers in his power-sharing cabinet, thus violating the terms of the fragile peace accord. The sources said Diarra had so far been dissuaded from resigning outright. However, he effectively went on strike, saying to Gbagbo in a leaked letter that he would refuse to chair another cabinet meeting until a deal was struck that would persuade the 26 opposition and rebel ministers who walked out of government at the end of March to return. Diplomats said the international community had engaged in a whirlwind of behind-the-scenes discussion and negotiation to keep Diarra in his post. Without this respected independent figure as the lynchpin of a coalition government charged with disarming the rebels and leading Cote d'Ivoire to fresh elections in October 2005, the peace agreement negotiated in the Paris suburb of Linas-Marcoussis would collapse, they warned. The "G7" opposition alliance - which comprises the four main opposition parties in parliament and the rebel New Forces movement - withdrew from government at the end of March. It walked out after scores of people were killed by the security forces and pro-government militias when they violently suppressed a banned opposition demonstration on 25 March. Many of the Young Patriots at Saturday's pro-Gbagbo rally in Abidjan blamed France, the former colonial power and provider of 4,000 peacekeeping troops, for Cote d'Ivoire's present troubles. "The French should leave Cote d'Ivoire as they are accomplices of the rebellion," one young unemployed man told IRIN at the noisy but peaceful gathering. The UN was also heavily criticised by the Young Patriots for not taking a tougher line against the rebels. Ble Goude called for the recently created UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire, ONUCI, to press ahead with the disarmament of the rebels. A programme of disarmament was agreed under the terms of the Marcoussis Accord but has yet to begin. “If the United Nations doesn’t disarm, we will take charge of the disarmament,” Ble Goude threatened. The UN has been repeatedly attacked by Gbagbo’s supporters since it published a report that blamed "the highest authority of the state" for the deliberate killing of large numbers of innocent civilians during the suppression of the opposition demonstration in March. UN human rights investigators said at least 120 people were killed as the security forces shot demonstrators and dragged suspected opposition sympathisers from their homes and killed them. The government has said only 37 people died during two days of political violence. On Sunday, the United Nations ran publicity spots on state television in which ONUCI spokeswoman Kadidia Ledron explained that the primary responsibility for disarmament lay with the Ivorians themselves. “For us, the mission of the UN is not to disarm the rebels,” said Ledron, “but to help Cote d’Ivoire disarm itself.” As she spoke, the screen showed pictures of the signing of the Marcoussis peace accord and of blue-helmeted peacekeepers. Meanwhile in Bouake, in the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire, thousands of residents turned out at a counter-rally to hear rebel leader Guillaume Soro reiterate his call for Gbabgo’s resignation. Residents paraded peacefully through the streets of the rebel capital to the main sports stadium to hear Soro speak. Reuters news agency reported that the stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000 was overcrowded. Many of those who turned up there were forced to remain outside. Soro was one of the three ministers sacked by Gbabgo last week. He had held the position of Communications Minister since April last year. Reuters said the rebel leader urged France and United Nations to act as a strong counter-weight to Gbagbo in order to salvage the January 2003 Marcoussis peace accord. Amadou Kone, a senior aide of the rebel leader, told IRIN by telephone: “The people want Seydou Diarra to remain in place, as the only power that can bring reconciliation to the country.” Earlier in the week, senior figures of the Democratic Party of Cote d’Ivoire (PDCI), which ruled Cote d'Ivoire from independence in 1960 until a military coup in 1999, held closed door meetings in Douakro, the home town of party leader and former president Henri Konan Bedie. Following this conclave, Bedie met with Gbagbo in Yamoussoukro, the official capital of Cote d'Ivoire, on Friday. This was the first public meeting between the head of state and a top leader of the G7 opposition alliance for two months. Neither side commented on the outcome.