Abidjan Attack Staged by Government: Rebels
Peter Murphy
Reuters
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Abidjan (Ivory Coast):
Ivory Coast's rebels accused the government on Friday of staging an attack on a military police barracks to provide President Laurent Gbagbo with an excuse not to attend a meeting of heads of state in Mali.Around 20 unidentified gunmen attacked the Agban barracks in the main city of Abidjan late on Thursday.
The military briefly sent tanks onto the streets but security forces said they repulsed the raid after a short gunbattle.No casualties were reported in the mysterious clash and the government was not immediately able to identify the gunmen."These are ignoble acts that Ivory Coast can do without. We have nothing to do with them," said Issiaka Ouattara, known as Commandant Wattao, military second in command of the rebels who have occupied the north of Ivory Coast since a 2002 civil war.
At least 30 heads of state and government, including French President Jacques Chirac, are gathering in Mali's capital Bamako for a France-Africa summit this weekend at which the faltering peace process in Ivory Coast was expected to be a key topic.
"This act was to avoid going to Mali, so that he (Gbagbo) could say the country was insecure. If he went to Mali, everyone would be on his back," Wattao told Reuters by telephone.
Dec 04, 2005
Peter Murphy
Reuters
______
Abidjan (Ivory Coast):
Ivory Coast's rebels accused the government on Friday of staging an attack on a military police barracks to provide President Laurent Gbagbo with an excuse not to attend a meeting of heads of state in Mali.Around 20 unidentified gunmen attacked the Agban barracks in the main city of Abidjan late on Thursday.
The military briefly sent tanks onto the streets but security forces said they repulsed the raid after a short gunbattle.No casualties were reported in the mysterious clash and the government was not immediately able to identify the gunmen."These are ignoble acts that Ivory Coast can do without. We have nothing to do with them," said Issiaka Ouattara, known as Commandant Wattao, military second in command of the rebels who have occupied the north of Ivory Coast since a 2002 civil war.
At least 30 heads of state and government, including French President Jacques Chirac, are gathering in Mali's capital Bamako for a France-Africa summit this weekend at which the faltering peace process in Ivory Coast was expected to be a key topic.
"This act was to avoid going to Mali, so that he (Gbagbo) could say the country was insecure. If he went to Mali, everyone would be on his back," Wattao told Reuters by telephone.
Dec 04, 2005
