Opposition and Gbagbo to talk peace

Opposition parties say they will hold talks with President Laurent Gbabgo on Tuesday, in what will be their first face to face meeting since the government of reconciliation fell apart in March. However, rebel leaders have refused to attend. Leaders of the New Forces rebel group, still reeling from an assassination attempt last week on their leader, Guillaume Soro, on Sunday accused Gbabgo of stalling for time while he laid plans to launch a full-fledged war on them. “We will not go to the meeting because we are not ready to negotiate with Gbagbo,” Amadou Kone, director of the cabinet for Soro, told IRIN from the rebel headquarters of Bouake. The official spokesman for the New Forces, Sidiki Konate, was doubtful of any breakthrough. However, he told IRIN that although the New Forces would not attend the talks “physically”, they would stand by any agreements made by other G7 leaders in their absence. “We don’t believe anything will come of this meeting because Gbagbo himself is the main obstacle to peace in Cote d’Ivoire,” Konate said. The G7 is made up of the three rebel groups, now known as the New Forces, and the four opposition parties that signed the Marcoussis peace deal with the government in January 2003. G7 ministers, who have repeatedly accused Gbagbo of blocking the implementation of Marcoussis, have boycotted that power-sharing government since March after more than 100 of their supporters were killed by security forces and pro-Gbagbo militia while trying to stage a demonstration for peace. Alphonse Djedje-Mady, the secretary general of the main opposition party, the Democratic party of Cote d’Ivoire (PDCI), and spokesman for the G7 will be attending the meeting. “One can not implement Marcoussis and refuse to negotiate with the president,” he told IRIN. The agenda for the meeting includes a list of most pressing concerns submitted to the president by the coalition of opposition and rebel groups last March. The French-brokered peace plan ended a civil war that erupted with a September 2002 rebellion and left Cote d’Ivoire split between a rebel-held north and a government loyalist south. The announcement of the Tuesday meeting came hours after a 14-member United Nations Security Council delegation visit to Cote d’Ivoire, which warned political leaders and rebels to stop obstructing the stalled peace process. The head of the Security Council mission, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, said if Marcoussis continued to be blocked, those responsible would be called to account. Last weekend, Gbagbo met with the Ghanaian, Togolese and Nigerian heads of state to begin preparations for a regional summit to resolve the Ivorian stand-off. An official at the presidential office told IRIN that that meeting could take place in the Ivorian capital, Yamoussoukro “in the coming days”.