AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Were trucks of arms confiscated in rebel controlled zone for president’s supporters or was it simply a provocation? Catholic Bishops appeal for peace

Abidjan (Fides Service)- “The situation is so confused that there are at least 20 versions of the truth”, a local source in Bouake told Fides. Bouake is the main town in the hands of New Forces rebels in Ivory Coast . “Newspapers and radio are full of the news that rebel troops discovered and confiscated of two truck loads of weapons at a road block. The newspapers even show photographs of French peacekeepers inspecting the confiscated trucks The rebels claim the arms were for President Laurent Gbagbo’s infiltrated supporters mixed with civilians in the rebel zone. Rebels say the infiltrators planned to take hold of the arms and then attack the rebel stronghold and help the army to take back positions lost in 2002” the source told Fides.
“This version is highly improbable. How could the President’s supporters dream of getting a convoy of arms through road blocks on the line between the government and rebel controlled zones? You can bribe a few men but not a whole army. And then in this zone there are also French and African peacekeepers which have considerable control over the territory” the sources told Fides. “So some say it was a provocation to accuse the President of wanting to take rebel zones back with force. But this too is only a rumour. Perhaps the truth will never be known”.
Yesterday 27 October the Catholic Bishops of Ivory Coast voiced strong opposition to any return to civil war. “As the situation stands, war would be a disaster for the country. All ideas of a possible coup must be firmly rejected. The logic of war must be abandoned”, the Bishops said encouraging Ivorian leaders to “agree on essential points and to save the supreme good we all have in common: our country, Ivory Coast”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/10/2004 righe 31 parole 382)