ugnet_: Ivorian rebels warn France-BBC

Omar Kezimbira Mon, 23 Dec 2002 11:10:05 -0800

Monday, 23 December, 2002, 16:56 GMT

Ivorian rebels warn France

The main rebel group controls half the country

The three rebel movements in Ivory Coast say they will consider any fresh attack by French troops as "an act of war".

The rebels postponed forming an alliance, saying they first needed to commit to respecting human rights and disciplining their troops.


	:	Ivory Coast


Click here for pictures from the conflict

They were meeting to consider their response after Saturday's clash between French soldiers and rebels of the Ivorian People's Movement for the Far West (MPIGO) advancing on government troops in the strategic western town of Duekoue.

The French Foreign Legion destroyed three lorries and killed a number of rebels at a checkpoint - the first time in this conflict they have used force to stop an offensive.

France has sent more than 1,000 troops to its former colony and will have 2,500 there within a week.

It says their mission is to protect westerners, including French nationals, to guarantee stability and to monitor the ceasefire.

'Attack on all fronts'

The rebels, who met in the town of Bouake, the stronghold of the main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast ( MPCI ), said that another French attack on their positions would be send as a "declaration of war".

"The MPIGO, the MPCI and the MPJ [Movement for Justice and Peace] will then launch a joint attack on all fronts," they said in a statement.

But a spokesman for the French troops in Ivory Coast, Lieutenant-Colonel Ange-Antoine Leccia, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that their mission remained unchanged, in spite of the rebel statement.

The rebels also repeated that they wanted President Laurent Gbagbo to step down and organise free and fair elections.

But the leader of the MPIGO, Felix Doh, told the BBC French service that his troops were prepared to lay down their weapons in the next 48 hours if Mr Gbagbo agreed to set up a transitional government including representatives of the rebel movements.

'Occupation'

The MPCI has described the French troops in the country as "forces of occupation".

But the French army says it is neutral in the conflict.

The Foreign Legion is holding the line

The legionnaires deny any responsibility for the clash in Duekoue, and say the rebels fired first and they acted in self-defence.

However the head of the French armed forces, General Henri Bentegeat, said on Sunday that Paris was ready to keep a big force for years in the former colony, in an effort to end the war.

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Ivory Coast says the rebels would be "bound to lose" any battle with the well-equipped and well-trained French.

The MPCI launched its offensive against the government of President Laurent Gbagbo in September.

Inconclusive peace talks between the two sides have been held in neighbouring Togo.


	WATCH/LISTEN

	ON THIS STORY

		The BBC's Paul Welsh reports from Ivory Coast "The French know they've taken on a difficult job"

		Bernard Valero, French Foreign Ministry spokesman "There was an agreement for the deployment of French troops to secure the ceasefire line"