Global Policy Forum

By Peter Murphy

Government supporters in Ivory Coast attacked United Nations bases and vehicles on Tuesday in a wave of violent protests that U.N. chief Kofi Annan said threatened the divided country's fragile peace process. For the second day running, hundreds of supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo took to the streets of the commercial capital Abidjan and other cities to oppose a call by foreign mediators to end the mandate of the national parliament.

The anti-U.N. riots threw into confusion international efforts to reunite peacefully the world's top cocoa grower, which has been split since a 2002 civil war between a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south. The protesters barricaded streets and besieged the U.N. mission headquarters in Abidjan, where some tried to batter down the wall, prompting U.N. troops to fire warning shots and tear gas. Demonstrators threw petrol bombs at the U.N. headquarters.

At least one demonstrator was believed to have been injured, a U.N. military source said. A convoy of U.N. vehicles was stoned and at Guiglo in the west of Ivory Coast, hundreds of pro-Gbagbo demonstrators entered a U.N. military base calling for the withdrawal of the international peacekeepers. U.N. Secretary-General Annan condemned what he called "the orchestrated violence directed against the United Nations" in Abidjan, Daloa, San Pedro and Guiglo and other areas. He also criticised the inaction of some national authorities in the face of the attacks, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The secretary-general demands an immediate end to these attacks, which contravene Ivorian law and seriously endanger the peace process as set out by the African Union and the U.N. Security Council," he added.

The United Nations and international mediators are struggling to implement a long-delayed peace plan that requires a presidential election to be held by the end of October following a process of disarmament. In a blow to the U.N.-backed efforts, Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front party (FPI) said it was pulling out of the peace process. It called for the withdrawal of more than 7,000 U.N. troops and police and 4,000 French soldiers who have together been maintaining a shaky peace in the country. Demonstrators also protested outside a French military base in Abidjan.

President vs Premier

Gbagbo met U.N. mission chief Pierre Schori to discuss the situation. The anti-U.N. protests in Abidjan and other cities erupted after an international working group charged with overseeing the peace process recommended on Sunday that the Ivorian parliament, whose mandate expired last month, should not be reconvened. Gbagbo loyalists, who dominate the parliament, accused international mediators and the United Nations of overstepping their authority and trying to override sovereign institutions. "We don't want any more solutions from the international community," said Richard Dakoury, a leader of the pro-Gbagbo Young Patriots whose militants staged the protests.

The unrest complicated the task of the new Prime Minister, Charles Konan Banny, who was installed last month with reinforced powers under the U.N. peace blueprint. Banny was chosen to serve with Gbagbo, whose mandate was extended for up to a year under the peace plan after scheduled elections failed to take place last October. Some diplomats attributed the protests to a power struggle between the president and his supporters and the international mediators who have thrown their weight behind Banny. "It is a test between Gbagbo and the international community which has taken away some of his power. He is showing the power he has -- that he has people who can block the country," said one diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Additional reporting by Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan and Evelyn Leopold in New York.

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