Mutineers in Cote d' Ivoire Call for Talks with Govt.

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 23, 2002

Mutineers in Cote d' Ivoire Call for Talks with Govt.

Rebel soldiers in Cote d' Ivoire Sunday called on the government to negotiate with them to forestall impending bloodbath.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Rebel soldiers in Cote d' Ivoire Sunday called on the government to negotiate with them to forestall impending bloodbath.

Local radio said rebel soldiers in Bouake offered the talks with the government as the loyalist troops on Sunday morning completed encirclement of the country's second largest city, 400 km north of Abidjan.

A rebel spokesman told reporters that the mutineers are ready to negotiate with the government under the aegis of France, which has sent troop reinforcements to the west African country to ensure the safety of French citizens.

The spokesman expressed hope that the negotiation would produce the positive outcomes leading to avoiding a bloodbath in the west African country.

Bouake and Korhogo, the key northern city en route to the border with Burkina Faso, remain in rebel hands, while other important towns heading north are also under rebel control.

In his response, Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan told reporters that he was unaware of the rebel request for talks.

N'Guessan Saturday called on rebel soldiers to surrender, saying that the government "is ready to examine the situation of the mutineers" if they lay down their arms.

"It's up to them to chose which side they are on, that of destruction, or the Republic," he said.

Cote d' Ivoire has seen three days of fighting in what President Laurent Gbagbo's government is describing as a failed coup by mutinous troops.

The failed coup attempt has claimed some 270 lives and left 300injured in Abidjan. former military ruler General Robert Guei, who was accused of being behind the coup, and Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou were confirmed killed during the bloodshed.

Local journalists told Xinhua that the rebels in the northern strongholds are recruiting young men as preparation for the government troops' attacks.

As the government troops headed north to confront mutinous soldiers, immigrant workers from Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries had their homes torched and their valuables stolen.

Millions of immigrants, mostly from Burkina Faso, live in Cote d' Ivoire and play a vital role as cocoa farmers.

In Abidjan, a spokesman for the main opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara said Ouattara's house had been destroyed by government soldiers, but that Ouattara was safe inside the French embassy.

France already has at least 500 troops in its former colony, where some 20,000 French nationals are thought to live.

Ouattara was prevented from contesting the presidential election in 2000, which was almost stolen by Guei, but was eventually won by Gbagbo.

The former French colony had its reputation as a haven of relative political and economic stability, but was rocked by a coup in 1999 when former military ruler Robert Guei ousted former president Henri Konan Bedie.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Cote d'Ivoire's Troops Wage Assault on Mutineers

Cote d'Ivoire's Imposes Curfew after Army Mutiny

At Least Five Killed in Army Mutiny in Cote d'Ivoire

Know Who to Love, Who to Hate ( 2 Messages)

China to Build up Oil Stockpile ( 2 Messages)

China Since 1990: Facts and Figures Tell of Rising Prosperity ( 26 Messages)

Dozens Could Have Died in Food Poisoning in Nanjing ( 19 Messages)

China Hopes to See Iraqi Issue Resolved Within UN Framework ( 43 Messages)