Ivorians mark war anniversary

By Paul Welsh
BBC West Africa correspondent, Abidjan

The people of Ivory Coast have been marking the first anniversary of the coup in the West African nation with a military parade and the laying of wreaths.

The rebels are now in government

Thousands died in the war which the uprising caused and the country is still split in two.

A peace deal has been agreed but the promised demobilisation has not yet begun.

The army has been parading in the Place de la Republique marking the day one year ago that hundreds of its own men turned their guns against their country, plunging it into a costly war.

At the war memorial flowers have been laid to the dead.

Hundreds were killed in the initial uprising, thousands more in the fighting and in the ethnic violence which followed.

Getting Worse

The war is now officially over and rebel leaders have been given seats in government, but the rebels still control the north and the plans to demobilise and disarm have so far come to nothing.

Public services are still not working in the north under rebel control, and the United Nations humanitarian organisations say that conditions are getting worse.

Three quarters of a million people were forced from their homes.

The Minister for Reconciliation says the rebels have to move quickly towards disarming and youth organisations are threatening to take to the streets in demonstrations if there's no change soon.

Earlier this year they paralysed the main city, Abidjan, for days in protest at the ceasefire brokered by the French.

Regional woes

It has been a difficult and costly year for this country but in this troubled region it is not alone.

Along the west African coastline there has been a coup in Guinea Bissau, an attempted coup in Sierra Leone and fierce battles in Liberia.

The north is still under rebel control

And that is aside from coups in Mauritania and an uprising in Niger.

And as always, it is the civilians caught up in the troubles who have suffered most.

Last year, thousands of them died and millions more were forced to leave their homes.