Youths dismantle barricades; working group to meet

Pro-government youths dismantled street barricades at President Laurent Gbagbo’s urging ahead of a meeting of international mediators to be held in Abidjan on Thursday on Cote d’Ivoire’s fraught peace process. The youths, known as Young Patriots, had blocked the streets of Abidjan and other cities in the government-held south of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest public hearings to grant citizenship to some 3.5 million undocumented Ivorians. Shops reopened, taxis and buses circulated and people went back to work on Thursday, although the public hearings only resumed in the rebel-held north of the country. Gbagbo said disarmament of rebels must begin before the citizenship hearings are held. He called on youths to dismantle their barricades after meeting with the UN representative to Cote d’Ivoire, Pierre Schori. The UN Security Council on Wednesday warned that it was prepared to impose targeted sanctions against anyone obstructing the peace process in Cote d’Ivoire, or anyone who attacked or obstructed the activities of the UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire (ONUCI). Some 10,000 UN and French peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the north and south. On Sunday, President Gbagbo accused the UN of being biased in favour of the rebel New Forces. The Young Patriots attacked UN installations in Abidjan in January and the UN imposed sanctions on two of the group’s leaders in February. The sanctions include a ban on travel, and the freezing of assets and foreign bank accounts. One of the sanctioned leaders, Charles Ble Goude, went on state-run television and radio on Wednesday to urge the Young Patriots to dismantle their roadblocks. The UN-authorised International Working Group on Cote d’Ivoire (GTI) was set to hold its monthly meeting on the country’s peace process on Thursday in Abidjan. In its last meeting, the GTI said it was essential that the citizenship hearings proceed and that disarmament begin ahead of elections scheduled for October. The GTI was set up to assist in implementing UN resolution 1633, the blueprint for reuniting Cote d’Ivoire and organising presidential elections. By providing status to undocumented Ivorians, officials will be able to update voter rolls for the polls. But observers say the elections will likely be delayed because of continual snags in the peace process. New voters could help determine the outcome of voting by shifting the balance of power away from Gbagbo. Establishing who is Ivorian is a key step in ending the civil war that broke out in September 2002. Some 750,000 people have been displaced and three million are receiving humanitarian assistance. ls/aa/cs/nr