Main opposition party threatens to withdraw from government

The main opposition Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) has threatened to pull out of the government of national reconciliation established in January under the French-brokered Marcoussis peace accords. More than six weeks after the withdrawal of the new forces from the government of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, the PDCI's Secretary-General, Alphonse Djedje Mady, called on PDCI ministers to be ready to suspend their activities. A source close to the Prime Minister's office said that the seven PDCI ministers had not been present at the last cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Djedje Mady told IRIN that the ministers were absent because they had been recalled for consultations with the PDCI's Political Bureau. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Djedje Mady denounced what he described as the terror of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), the party of President Laurent Gbagbo. He accused the FPI of carrying out flagrant abuses of human rights, threatening members of his party and incitement to murder. The last straw for the PDCI appears to have been the arrest and detention of Political Bureau member Alphonse Kobenan Kossonou, now accused of "attempted destabilisation, association with criminals and conspiracy". He was transferred to prison in Abidjan on Tuesday. Kossonou's arrest coincided with the detention of 11 activists from another opposition party, the Rally of Republicans (RDR), all of whom were subsequently released. Reacting to the PDCI's boycott threat, President Laurent Gbagbo said on national television on Tuesday: "Blackmail has become the principal way of life for certain political parties". For years the PDCI dominated the political landscape in Cote d'Ivoire, first under President Félix Houphouet-Boigny and then under his successor, Henri Konan Bedié. The party still has the biggest block in parliament, with 98 seats. But despite the party's strong warning about leaving the government, some observers believe the PDCI will stay in. The PDCI reportedly sent two of its senior members to Prime Minister Seydou Diarra to announce its withdrawal from the cabinet, but no such message was delivered. The Marcoussis accords brought together the ruling party, other political parties and rebels who control the north of the country, to create government of national unity. But the rebels pulled out of the government accusing Gbagbo of failing to delegate effective power to the ministers. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has arranged a meeting between the warring parties in Ghana next Tuesday to try and kick-start the stalled peace process.