Ivory Coast cabinet boycott

Ivory Coast cabinet boycott

The temporary government has not yet started work

Rebel members of Ivory Coast's unity government have stayed away from its first meeting in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

They have demanded that President Laurent Gbagbo rescind his appointment of two cabinet members to take charge of the disputed portfolios of defence and interior - on an interim basis.

The Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast or MPCI, say the appointments violate a recent peace agreement and they will not take up their posts until their demands are met.

The six-month rebellion has divided Ivory Coast into a rebel-dominated largely Muslim north and a government-controlled south where the Christian population is concentrated.

"This is a mere diversion. We totally reject the appointment of these ministers," rebel spokesman Antoine Beugre told AP news agency by telephone.

The government and rebels had earlier agreed that a special commission, representing all sides, would name the heads of these two ministries - but the commission could not reach agreement.

NEW GOVERNMENT

Gbagbo's FPI: 10 seats

Former ruling PDCI: 10 seats

RDR: 7 seats

Main MPCI rebels: 7 seats

Western rebels: 2 seats

Others: 5 seats

Q&A: Why the fighting?

Wrangling over whether the rebels should be given the defence and interior ministries threatened to hold up the creation of the new government, which was agreed earlier this year during peace talks.

Adou Assoa from the ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party is the interim defence minister, while Fofana Zemogo from the opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) party will provisionally hold the interior portfolio.

The nine rebel ministers in the 41-member government also refused to attend the first two cabinet sessions in the capital, Yamoussoukro, citing security concerns.

RDR ministers said they were worried about their safety but, with the exception of their leader Alassane Ouattara, returned from exile, and are now participating in the government.

Escapees

On Wednesday, about 30 detainees escaped from a French military camp in western Ivory Coast after it was besieged by pro-government loyalists, eyewitnesses say.

Thousands of demonstrators besieged the French military base in the western Ivorian town of Daloa.

The BBC's Kate Davenport quoted eye-witnesses as saying that the protest, many of them in school uniform, marched through the streets shouting anti-French slogans.

During the protest the detainees are reported to have jumped camp barriers, escaping before the French troops had time to disperse the protesters.

Former colonial power France has sent 3,000 troops to Ivory Coast to oversee a fragile ceasefire.

At least 112 people from an ethnic group who live in the border areas of both Liberian and Ivory Coast were being held at the French base, according to sources in Daloa.

The were detained earlier this month after an attack on the rebel-held border town of Bangolo, which left at least 60 civilians dead.