Abidjan (Fides Service) - "We have at last been able to return to Bouake, from where we were forced to evacuate in September last year," missionaries in Ivory Coast told Fides Service. "With difficulty we manage to move from rebel controlled areas to government controlled zones. To do this we have to pass road blocks often manned by teenagers who barter for a cigarette or a can of fruit juice. In some cases to travel 40 km we have to go through as many as 37 road blocks. You have to arm yourself with patience and steady nerves. Thank goodness here in the north rebels have been ordered by their leaders to respect medical staff and missionaries because they know both are needed by the people. Besides offering human and spiritual comfort we also have a little rice to distribute among the most needy. Scarcity of food is the main problem for the few remaining people. Rebel groups have plundered the fields and even farmers have little to eat. Aid is on the way but the army blocks convoys fearing the rebels may take the supplies. However today an agreement was reached to let food pass through government lines".
"Otherwise the situation is calm, although many of our local Catholics fled their homes some time ago. Most of them were state employees or shopkeepers unable to work in a besieged city. This is obvious at Sunday Mass when instead of the usual 1,500 we see 300 worshippers. However every parish in the centre is manned by at least one priest. The rebel leaders have set up a parallel administration: today I was amazed to see road-sweepers in action. A little sign that there is a desire to return to normality".
Meanwhile fighting continues in the west where there two other rebel groups Justice and Peace Movement and the Ivorian Peoples Movement, supported by mercenaries from Liberia. Violent battles are reported in Toulepleu. Days back there was fighting along the border with Liberia. So far peace talks, between government and rebels hosted by the French government in Paris, have not produced anything important. (Fides Service 23/1/2003)