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Guillaume Soro of the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement greets his supporters in Bouake
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November 17, 2004, 05:00
Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast President, said yesterday he was committed to reunifying the West African country but said that it was up to the United Nations to start disarmament in the world's top cocoa grower.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a French resolution on Monday imposing an arms embargo after Gbagbo's forces started bombing the rebel-held north two weeks ago, breaking an 18-month truce and killing nine French soldiers.
"The president takes note of the UN decision and assures the United Nations, its member states and the friends of Ivory Coast, that he will do nothing to hinder the peace process," Gbagbo's spokesman said in a statement read on state television.
Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader, welcomed the arms embargo, but said Gbagbo's "fascist regime" would have to be removed if there was to be any chance of democratic elections next year. "The international community must not dither. You do not negotiate with a fascist regime. Laurent Gbagbo must be forced to cede power," he said in the rebel stronghold Bouake.
Suck in neighbours
Fears that war in Ivory Coast could suck in West African neighbours has prompted urgent talks among diplomats and African leaders, desperate to stop a country once feted as a model of post-independence prosperity sliding into anarchy. The UN resolution immediately bans arms sales to all sides for 13 months and calls for a travel ban and asset freeze to be imposed on certain individuals on Dec. 15, unless steps have been taken to get the shattered peace process back on track.
Gbagbo's supporters criticised the move. "I am profoundly disappointed by (the United Nations)," said Pascal Affi N'Guessan, the head of Gbagbo's FPI party and prime minister when the rebels tried to topple the president in 2002. "I don't see how this resolution will bring a solution to the crisis ... What should be sought is disarmament and the reunification of the country."
Gbagbo called on the United Nations to apply the embargo with equal rigour to the rebels and to immediately start a disarmament process outlined in a 2003 French-brokered peace deal. - Reuters
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