PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CÔTE D'IVOIRE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CÔTE D'IVOIRE

At a press conference at Headquarters this morning, Philippe Djangone-Bi, Permanent Representative of the Côte d'Ivoire Mission to the United Nations, said the current conflict in Bouake was an attempted coup d'état.  Since the national armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire had begun a counter-attack in Bouake, the government now had a better grasp of the attackers' true motivation.

The rebels' claims were clearly political, he said.  They wanted to change the constitutional order by force of arms.  Signing a ceasefire agreement would be legitimizing the rebellion and accepting that the country be partitioned. Since the violence had continued, the government could not sign a ceasefire with a vaguely understood rebellion, which is why the national army was given orders to liberate the country.

He said they were principally former soldiers, deserters and mercenaries from the subregion.  The soldiers who were going to be demobilized served as a pretext for the attack.

He said there seemed to be a media campaign to make people believe that the conflict had tribal and religious origins, alleging xenophobic policy and an attempt by Christians in the South to exclude Muslims from the North.  He referred to a New York Times column by Norimitsu Onishi published 30 September 2002.  Mr. Djangone-Bi responded in a document called "An Unfair Campaign Against Côte d'Ivoire".

He noted that various government officials, including the President of the National Assembly, the nuclear disarmament ranking official of state, the president of the Economic and Social Council of Administrative Culture, the Grand Chancellor of the National Order, and the President of the Forum for National Reconciliation were all from the north.

He said that he could not give an update on security or casualties in Bouake.  It was difficult to guarantee security in the country's second largest city, and Bouake was not completely secure.  The government was sending more troops to defend the city, and he did not have further information on what was happening on the battlefield itself.

On the demolition of "informal suburbs" in Abidjan, he said the residents were living in an illegal situation.  The government saw that the rebel forces were concentrated in these areas and had built weapons stocks there.  Those settlements were less than 500 meters from the residence of the President of the Republic.  For the security of the country, these settlements had to be eliminated.

He said that yesterday the Head of State issued instructions not to destroy those areas, but that that Destruction would start again after the proper means were made to re-house the people concerned.  However, the settlements that were close to the President and security forces would be demolished.  The government had taken into account that the residents of the

settlement had nowhere else to go, and it was working to re-house them pending a calmer situation.

He said that yesterday the Head of State also announced that he had been in touch with his counterparts in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and he was receptive to new proposals for restoring peace and stability.  The first stage of negotiation failed because Côte d'Ivoire was asked to sign a ceasefire, which it would not do.  It would have meant recognizing the partition of the country.

He said Côte d'Ivoire was waiting for action from the contact group assigned by the heads of the government of ECOWAS, which would come to the support of Côte d 'Ivoire and induce the rebels to lay down their arms in order to engage in negotiations with a lawful government to determine how their problems could be resolved.

He said the government was still fighting a "faceless rebellion".  The rebels were clearly receiving external support, but it remained unclear who was giving them arms and equipment such as satellite phones.  Also, based on the testimony of prisoners of war, some of the rebels had nothing to do with Côte d'Ivoire and were not Ivorian; some come from elsewhere in the subregion.

He said the government had not had time to investigate any deaths in the conflict, particularly the death of General Robert Guei.  Gen. Geui's death must be placed in the context of the killings, in cold blood, of other government officials.  The concern now was repelling this aggression and liberating Côte d'Ivoire.  The investigations would be carried out in good time.

On the safety of West African citizens, he said the Head of State had declared in the State-run media that foreigners should not be attacked, and all of the officials had said the same thing.  However, when there was such a high percentage of foreigners and there was a crisis, a man in the street who was not a politician would have an instinctive reaction and there would be mistakes.

He also said that ambassadors had very friendly contacts at the State level, but not at the Government level.

He said he had no specific information regarding reports of serious conflict in Yamoussoukro.  There was a meeting of young patriots and thousands of young people volunteered to liberate Bouake.  There were demonstrations in the streets and there may have been clashes or minor confrontations.

He said that it was too early to assess the economic impact of the conflict on Côte d' Ivoire, but it would be disastrous.  If the conflict continued, it would affect all of the neighboring countries and possibly beyond that.  He also said that if the situation continued, other rebel groups would take advantage, which is why the Government would not sign a ceasefire with the rebels.

He said that public support of the rebels could not be assessed, since people were being held as hostages and cowering in their houses.  There was a press campaign in support of the rebels.

He said that although ECOWAS ministers had indicated two weeks ago that they would militarily intervene if the rebels would not sign a ceasefire, signing that ceasefire would be putting the rebels on equal footing with the government of Côte d'Ivoire.  Asking a force to depose itself would be legitimizing the situation.  However, the Head of State was calling on other countries to help restore law and order.  He said that no one should establish occupation by the rebels.

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