Weapons burned to symbolize end of Cote d' Ivoire conflict

From Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire

Bouake, July 30, GNA - A disarmament ceremony to symbolize the end of Cote d'Ivoire's five-year conflict and a return of the country to peace was on Monday held at Bouake.

President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, jointly set a pile 2,000 rifles and a-105 millimetre rocket launcher, turned in by the rebels, also known as the New Forces, on fire and pledged to keep faith with the peace agreement they had signed.

As the weapons went up in flames, the huge crowd that had travelled from across the country to fill the 50,000-capacity Stade du Bouake broke into wild jubilation.

Some African leaders including South African President Thabo Mbeki, President Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso, Malian President Amadou Toumane Toure, President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, Dr Thomas Yayi Boni, President of Benin and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission, were present.

Mr. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, the Foreign Minister-designate, represented AU Chairman President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Cote d'Ivoire has been plunged into civil war since September 19, 2002, following a mutiny by a group of 750 soldiers, protesting their demobilization from the national army. The country was partitioned into a rebel-held north and Government controlled south.

President Gbagbo, who was visiting Bouake, a rebel stronghold, for the first time in about five years, declared the war over and called on all those who have fled the country to return.

He said they were committed to the implementation of the peace deal struck in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on March 4, this year. What they needed to do, he said, was to speed up the processes towards the holding of general elections by moving quickly with the disarmament, integration of the New Forces into the National Army and compilation of the electoral roll.

Mr. Soro, the rebel Chief turned Prime Minister, re-echoed the declaration made by President Gbagbo, saying, the peace process was irreversible.

"There is time for everything. Time to fight and time for peace. We would stick to the peace process."

Mr Osei-Adjei, noted that there certainly, were going to be challenges to the peace process but with commitment and the show of good faith by both sides, they could achieve lasting peace. The Implementation Committee of the peace process, chaired by President Campaore would meet to review the achievements so far made and the task ahead in the coming September.

Dr. Chambas said the Commission would encourage the factions to continue to stay on the path of peace.

Following the appointment of Mr. Soro as Prime Minister, the UN buffer zone between the two sides was dismantled on April 16, and the Government and News Forces soldiers paraded together for the first time. On May 19, a pro-Government militia gave up over 1,000 weapons at a ceremony in Guiglo, at which President Gbagbo was present. 30 July 2007