Paris (Fides Service) - "This agreement paves the way for a peace process in Ivory Coast" Mario Giro representing the S. Egidio Community at Paris peace-talks told Fides Service. "It should be noted that the agreement address the various problems of the crisis: the people, relations between the north south of the country. On certain points there had to be a compromise, but at least they were discussed. It will take time to settle the many questions but we are on the right path. Certainly all the political and social components will have to be patient and the international community must continue to assist Ivory Coast on its journey towards peace."
However not everyone welcomes the agreement and in Abidjan Gbagbo supporters are suspect about the deal brokered by France, the former colonial power, and have attacked its embassy and other interests in Abidjan. "These demonstrations were almost foreseeable - Giro says - extremists who are against peace have not disappeared and they find support in a mass of easily exploited unemployed youth. But I am confident that these are only local episodes. President Gbagbo is committed to peace, he has affirmed: <War ends either with a victory or with a compromise. I did not win the war> this leaves space for compromise".
"War brought to the fore disputes between ethnic groups in the north and those in the south, but this was not a war about religion" affirms Giro. "Cardinal Bernard Agre, Archbishop of Abidjan, worked hard to make certain that the conflict did not assume the connotations of a war of religion. S. Egidio Community, which has worked in Ivory Coast for several years now, continues to promote initiatives to overcome the barriers that divide Ivorians." LM (Fides Service 28/1/2003)