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Ivorian youth leader calls off anti: UN protests

Posted on: Thursday, 19 January 2006, 14:42 CST

By Peter Murphy

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's pro-government youth leader called off anti-U.N. protests on Thursday as the Security Council studied possible sanctions to give teeth to a peace plan battered by riots aimed against peacekeepers.

Protesters dispersed from outside the French embassy, where pro-government "Young Patriot" leader Charles Ble Goude called off the action, and also eased elsewhere as U.N. and French army helicopters hovered above the main city Abidjan.

Peacekeepers fired warning shots and tear gas at young protesters outside U.N. mission headquarters, which has seen some of the worst violence, but many dispersed as dusk fell.

"There are less of them now. There are about 300-400 people left. It seems to be clearing up a bit everywhere. There are no flash points at the moment," U.N. public information officer Captain Gilles Combarieu told Reuters.

The protesters, mainly young supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, have demanded the withdrawal of U.N. and French troops from the West African country, divided since a civil war in 2002 between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

They denounced as meddling a call by international mediators to dissolve the pro-Gbagbo parliament.

Analysts say the attacks on the peacekeepers appear to be a coordinated strategy by supporters of Gbagbo who fear the internationally-backed peace process could reduce his power.

"It is a carefully orchestrated political strategy to show that the presidential camp is still alive and can influence the peace process. It's saying 'we're still here and we can block the process'," said Gilles Yabi, an analyst on Ivory Coast with the think tank International Crisis Group.

At least four protesters were killed on Wednesday when they stormed a U.N. base in the west, forcing peacekeepers to open fire and later abandon four bases, U.N. staff said.

Ivorian state media put the death toll at five.

Yabi attributed the violence to a power struggle between Gbagbo and the new prime minister, Charles Konan Banny, who was installed by international mediators last month to lead the world's top cocoa grower to delayed elections by October 31.

Gbagbo, whose mandate expired in October but who is allowed to stay on until elections under the U.N. plan, appeared reluctant to cede any of his powers to Banny, Yabi said.

"Using street protests has always been the main tool of the presidential party," he added.

After crisis talks late on Wednesday, Gbagbo and African Union chief Olusegun Obasanjo appealed to Ivorians to halt the riots, which have revived calls for the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on those blocking the peace process.

The council voted a year ago for targeted sanctions, including a travel ban or a freeze on assets, but has not applied them despite renewing them last December. It was due to meet on Thursday for the second time in a week to discuss Ivory Coast.

CALL FOR CALM

Nigerian President Obasanjo arrived on Wednesday and secured a public call for calm from Gbagbo as part of a joint statement stressing that foreign mediators had only made a recommendation, and had no power to dissolve parliament.

"We have just won a great victory. I ask you to return home," Ble Goude told his Young Patriot supporters outside the French embassy, an Ivorian flag around his neck.

"Our (national) assembly has been restored. As for disarmament, we give Banny a fortnight to go and present members of parliament with his government program and with a timetable to disarm the rebels."

Under the peace plan, Banny has the task of disarming the rebels and militias on both sides.

Protests were directed against U.N. bases, residences, vehicles and staff in the government-controlled south, threatening to derail what has been a fragile ceasefire since 2003 maintained by nearly 7,600 U.N. troops and police and 4,000 French soldiers.

In a further blow, Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party said on Tuesday it was pulling out of the peace process.

(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan)

Source: REUTERS

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