Ivory Coast's ruling party accused opposition groups on Friday of plotting with rebels to overthrow the government, and it called on militant youth supporters to "mobilize" in defense.
Ruling party chief Affi N'Guessan singled out the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, which pulled out of a power-sharing government earlier this month. The party ruled the country from independence in 1960 until it was ousted in a 1999 coup. "Political parties have formed a coalition with rebel groups to destabilize the country before the arrival of the U.N. peacekeepers," N'Guessan told a crowd of cheering supporters in Abidjan.
| It'd be dumb to wait til after the peacekeepers arrive, eh? |
The United Nations plans to deploy 6,240 U.N. peacekeepers to Ivory Coast in early April to bolster a fragile peace deal already monitored by 4,000 French and 1,400 West African troops. Rebels were not immediately available for comment. The Democratic Party denied the allegations. "We leave them to their fears and their ramblings. These people are afraid for no reason," said party spokesman Djedje Mady. N'Guessan called on the Young Patriots - as pro-government militant youth groups are known - to "mobilize and block all attempts to carry out coups." "The Democratic Party of Ivory Coast must follow the road of peace and not form pacts with rebel movements," he warned. "The Democratic Party must not drive Ivory Coast to disaster."
Earlier Friday, state radio announced a ban on all demonstrations in Ivory Coast until April 30. President Laurent Gbagbo also ordered troop reinforcements to be sent to western Ivory Coast following ethnic clashes there, and for security roadblocks to be set up "everywhere possible" in Abidjan, the commercial capital. The ban came just a day all the major opposition parties and rebel groups announced plans to hold a protest march, calling for Young Patriots to be brought to justice after beating at least five judges at a demonstration on Tuesday. N'Guessan said the attack on the judges was "a normal reaction of the Young Patriots," who have been behind a series of violent protests since civil war broke out in September 2002.
"The rebellion created all these problems," he said, adding that those responsible "will never be arrested."
| "Nope, nope, can't do it, nope, it'd be unseemly, nope, nope." |
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