Global Policy Forum

Cote d'Ivoire's rival factions must put aside personal grudges, return to a power-sharing government, pass political reforms and work out a timetable for disarmament, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

Annan was speaking at the start of an African summit in his home country Ghana, called to jump-start the stalled peace process in Cote d'Ivoire and prevent the divided country from sliding back into civil war. "I look to you to put aside partisan and personal interests and work together in a spirit of commitment and compromise," Annan told the summit's opening ceremony at the La Palm Royal Hotel in Accra.

The rebels, who have controlled the north of Cote d'Ivoire since a civil war erupted in September 2002, are demanding political reforms before they hand over their weapons to a small force of UN peacekeepers. President Laurent Gbagbo is equally adamant that disarmament must come first. But according the International Crisis Group, a think tank based in Brussels, key figures on both sides are too busy cashing in on the deadlock to seriously think about thrashing out a genuine peace deal.

Annan co-hosted the Accra meeting with Ghanaian President John Kufuor in his capacity as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The leaders of 11 other African countries, including Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African President Thabo Mbeki, also attended the opening day of the talks. They are conscious that fresh trouble in Cote d'Ivoire could spill out into other West African countries, some of which are themselves on a fragile recovery path from recent conflict.

The leaders of all of Cote d'Ivoire's main political factions, including Gbagbo, rebel chief Guillaume Soro and the leaders of the main opposition parties represented in parliament, turned up for the event. It has been billed by many diplomats as a last chance to put the French-brokered Linas Marcoussis peace accord, signed in January 2003, firmly back on track. Diplomats said the open agenda summit, which is also due to review the situation in Liberia and Sudan's troubled Darfur province, could last two or three days.

It is the third time Accra has played host to a Cote d'Ivoire peace summit since the crisis erupted nearly two years ago. Fighting between Gbagbo's government and the rebels finally ended in May last year, but since then an uneasy "no war no peace" situation has taken root.

Events deteriorated in March this year when the rebels and the four main opposition parties represented in parliament walked out of a power-sharing government in protest at the killing of at least 120 of their supporters in Abidjan. Gbagbo retaliated in May by sacking three of the 26 ministers who withdrew from the cabinet, including Soro, the rebel leader.

Cote d'Ivoire's independent Prime Minister, Seydou Diarra, whose instructions have often been countermanded by Gbagbo, was not consulted about the ministerial sackings in May. Diplomats said he nearly resigned over the issue. But Annan went out of his way to lend Diarra his support. "A functioning government is vital to restoring normality in the country," Annan told the summit. "That means we need clarity on the delegation of powers from the President to the Prime Minister."

The UN Secretary General also called for flexibility on Article 35 of the constitution which prevents people running for the presidency unless both their parents were born in Cote d'Ivoire. Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister who is popular in the north, was banned from standing against Gbagbo in the 2000 presidential election after being ruled ineligible on these grounds.

With fresh presidential elections planned for October 2005, Gbagbo and his Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party, have dragged their heels on implementing this and other political reforms demanded by the 2003 peace agreement.

Vice presidents for Cote d'Ivoire?

Rebel, government and Western diplomatic sources told IRIN that one option being mooted at the Accra summit was to postpone presidential elections until 2010. The proposal, put forward by Gabon, would keep Gbagbo as head of state, but would dilute his powers with the appointment of three vice presidents representing the northern rebels and the parliamentary opposition, they added.

The sources said the proposed vice-presidents were Soro, the leader of the New Forces rebel-movement, Ouattara, the leader of the Rally of the Republic (RDR) opposition party which has close links to the rebels, and former president Henri Konan Bedie who leads the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), the largest opposition party in parliament. Although all three men were present in Accra on Thursday, the sources said it was unclear whether the Gabonese proposal would be formally discussed at the summit.

So far, ECOWAS leaders and Annan have stopped short of threatening disciplinary action if Gbagbo and his opponents refuse to budge. But Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation, urged the Accra participants to get tough. "Both the UN and African leaders need to consider sanctions against those who undermine peace agreements," Peter Takirambudde, the head of the group's Africa division said in a statement on Thursday. "The crisis in Cote d'Ivoire threatens regional stability."

Accra 3 has been described by some, including Gbagbo himself, as a last chance for peace. But on the eve of the meeting the Ivorian President seemed to have had a chance of heart. "When you treat a sick man, you shouldn't yell that this is the last medicine," Gbagbo said during a flying visit to Congo Brazzaville ahead of the Accra meeting, according to the French news agency AFP. "So long as there's no healing, the treatment goes on," he added. Back in Cote d'Ivoire some saw this as bad omen. "What he said about Accra not being the last medicine already suggests failure for the summit," said one youth, Jean-Claude Koffi Kouassi in Bouake, the rebel capital in central Cote d'Ivoire.

A rebel officer in the town told IRIN that patrols had been stepped up and the rebel army was on maximum alert in case developments at the Accra summit sparked trouble back home. In the government-controlled south of the country, the streets of the economic capital Abidjan were calm despite threats from pro-Gbagbo militia-style youth groups to shut the city down.

The UN is building up a peacekeeping force of more than 6,000 troops in Cote d'Ivoire to help 4,000 French troops patrol the line dividing north from south, supervise disarmament and provide security for next year's planned elections. Both contingents of foreign troops have been the target of attacks by Gbagbo's supporters in the past. A UN security report issued at midday on Thursday said the situation in Abidjan was "calm - for the moment" and the UN mission ONUCI remained open. A UN officer said the French embassy had beefed up its security, but it was business as usual.

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