The leader of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo’s party urged die-hard militants to lay down their arms and called for national reconciliation on Saturday, even as shooting erupted in a suburb of Abidjan.
Pascal Affi N’Guessan read a declaration to the nation saying “the war has ended” following Gbagbo’s arrest last Monday.
He urged “an end to the death of our compatriots,” saying the people of Ivory Coast must “give a chance to the restoration of peace” and halt the “revenge killings, the looting.”
Gbagbo, who has ruled since 2000, refused to accept defeat at Nov. 28 elections that he had delayed for five years. He took a last stand in Abidjan, the commercial capital, where remaining loyalist troops turned heavy weapons on civilians. He was arrested by forces loyal to internationally recognized Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara after UN and French troops bombed the presidential palace.
“The FPI [Ivorian Popular Front] is very devastated by the chaotic situation and presents its sympathies to the families of all those who have died,” said Affi N’Guessan, leader of the front.
International journalists were initially prevented from hearing his declaration by an officer of forces who fought to install Ouattara and who themselves are accused of killing hundreds of civilians in what could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Only Ouattara’s Ivorian Radio and Television, known by its French acronym RTI, was first allowed to film the declaration.
However, journalists telephoned ministers in Ouattara’s Cabinet complaining and were later allowed to separately record Affi N’Guessan’s statement.
He spoke after shooting erupted on Saturday morning in Abidjan’s sprawling Yopougon neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, where Gbagbo fighters have sought refuge and pro-Ouattara fighters were trying to disarm them, residents of the area said.
Affi N’Guessan was accompanied by Gbagbo’s former foreign minister, Alcide Djedje, who told reporters that Gbagbo was under the protection of UN peacekeepers in northern Korhogo town, an Ouattara stronghold.
Djedje said that he, at least two other ministers and several legislators have also been given UN protection in Abidjan after an agreement was reached on Thursday with Ouattara’s government.
He said Gbagbo’s wife, Simone, who is accused of encouraging his intransigence, remains in Abidjan with nearly 100 other prisoners of the former regime. Ouattara’s children are being protected at an unlooted family home near the seaside resort of Grand Bassam, Djedje said.
He was prevented from saying more to a journalist by a member of the pro-Ouattara forces, who said Djedje was not allowed to speak to reporters. Another Ouattara official in the security department refused to allow Affi N’Guessan to take questions from reporters.
Meanwhile, state radio reported that Gbagbo’s interior minister, Desire Tagro, died on Tuesday after being shot and badly beaten by fighters who captured him on Monday along with Gbagbo. Gbagbo had said after his capture that he asked Tagro to signal his surrender as the residence was being stormed, by walking out with a white flag.
Ouattara has said that Gbagbo’s safety was assured and that he wants the former strongman tried by both national and international courts for his alleged crimes.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has said it is conducting a preliminary examination into crimes perpetrated by all sides in the conflict in this West African nation.
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