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Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 15:03:00 +0100
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Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE: Factional clashes [2001026]
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COTE D'IVOIRE: Factional clashes

ABIDJAN, 26 October (IRIN) - Clashes between supporters of rival political
parties, and between protesters and the security forces were reported on
Tuesday in various Ivorian towns following a call for fresh elections by the
leader of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), Alassane Ouattara.

News organisations reported clashes in Daloa and Gagnoa, in the southwestern
region of Haut Sassandra, between RDR and Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI)
supporters. The region is a stronghold of FPI leader Laurent Gbagbo, winner
of Sunday's presidential polls. It is also the heartland of Gbagbo's Bete
ethnic group, although many migrants from the north live there.

The RDR is widely viewed as a party supported by northerners, who are
overwhelmingly Muslim.

Abidjan was also affected by Thursday's unrest. AFP reported that the car of
a Christian priest was burnt in the suburb of Blokosso. AFP also quoted the
Conseil national islamique (CNI-National Islamic Council) as saying that 14
people died in clashes between FPI and RDR supporters in the low-income
suburb of Abobo, reputedly an RDR stronghold. The RDR later said the death
toll was 20.
 
In another low-income area, Adjame, gendarmes dispersed protesters by firing
teargas and shots in the air on roads littered by smouldering debris. "It's
the RDR guys," one gendarme told IRIN. "We don't know what they want. We are
here to disperse them." Holding a sub-machine gun, he said members of the
armed forces were helping the gendarmes keep order.

But in the middle-to-high income area of Cocody, gendarmes could be seen
fraternising with groups of youths armed with machetes, knives and sticks.
"We marched (on Wednesday) but we did not break anything," one youth told
IRIN in an apparent reference to reports that Thursday's demonstrators had
plundered shops.

"Alassane (Ouattara) has sent his friends to do damage," another youth told
IRIN. "I am Baoule (an ethnic group from the centre of Cote d'Ivoire) and a
supporter of the (former ruling) PDCI, but that has nothing to do with it.
This is my country. They are burning my country." His companion said he
supported the PIT, the Ivorian labour party, but he, too, was there to
"defend the country".
 
Ouattara's detractors allege that he is Burkinabe and claim that his
supporters are mainly foreigners, first-generation Ivoirians and
northerners. One of 14 candidates excluded from Sunday's election, his bid
was rejected on the grounds that he failed the constitution's nationality
requirements.

Ouattara said on French radio and television that the polls were illegal and
the whole process was flawed from the start. He said fresh elections could
be held in late November on the date that had been set aside for a second
round of the presidential elections.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI), Gbagbo ruled out a
new presidential poll. Told by his interviewer that South African President
Thabo Mbeki had also suggested fresh elections, he responded: "Thabo Mbeki
is not an Ivorian national, so it does not make much difference to me ... I
went to the elections and I won. I shall exercise power in line with the
constitution and the people's will."

According to AFP, FPI militants and gendarmes attacked Ouattara's home on
Thursday. AFP also reported that Ouattara sought refuge in the residence of
the German ambassador and that he had a meeting there with General Mathias
Doue, a key member of the military junta that took over after President
Henri Konan Bedie was overthrown on 24 December 1999.

Guei was forced out of power on Wednesday by public pressure after claiming
victory in the election. However, the bulk of his cabinet has stayed on
under Prime Minister Seydou Diarra pending the validation of Gbagbo's
victory by the Supreme Court and his inauguration.

[ENDS]

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Desk): +225-22-41-9339; e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci]


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