War fears in Ivory Coast as troops advance on rebels

THE Ivory Coast’s fragile ceasefire crumbled yesterday as hundreds of loyalist troops rolled toward rebels behind a two-month uprising raising the spectre of all-out war in the divided West African nation.

A French army spokesman said the loyalist troops were heading to the central rebel-held town of Vavoua to attack. There were also reports of fighting in a western government-held town.

“It is an incident that we qualify as serious,” said Lt Col Ange-Antoine Leccia, spokesman for the 1,000-strong French force monitoring a month-old cease-fire in the former French colony.

Troops left the government-held city of Daloa yesterday morning and were headed toward Vavoua, 35 miles away, Leccia said. They included a large number of English-speaking African and white mercenaries, he said.

Rebel sources accused South African mercenaries of doubling around French troops near Vavoua to attack their positions.

Residents in the western government-held town of Danane, near the border with Liberia, also reported fighting yesterday.

French forces had not yet been able to verify the reports, but Leccia said he did not think the rebel group that has split the country was involved in those clashes.

“The fighting started this morning, and it is very heavy,” said a cocoa buyer in Danane, reached by telephone. “We are all hiding, the children are scared, everyone is shouting.”

“Nobody is moving, nobody is going out,” said another resident, who gave his name only as Hugue. Machine gun fire could be heard as he spoke on the telephone.

Ivory Coast has been split into a government-held south and rebel-held north since insurgents launched a failed coup attempt on September 19. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes.

Word of the loyalist advance came after government and rebel forces traded accusations of violating the truce signed October 17.

In a statement issued yesterday, the rebels said President Laurent Gbagbo’s troops had violated the month-old cease-fire by carrying out air raids on its positions in Vavoua and the nearby villages of Pelezi and Diafla on Wednesday.

“The police station in Vavoua, the market in Pelezi and the village of Diafla were bombarded by the enemy on board Mi-24 helicopters,” the statement, signed by rebel leader Tuo Fozie, said. “The toll is very heavy. Scores of dead, all civilians and much damage,” it added.

Fozie earlier said 40 civilians were killed in the village of Bonifla, near Vavoua. French troops were verifying the rebel claims yesterday.

The army said on Wednesday it was going on the offensive after rebels attacked its positions near the western city of Man, about 310 miles northwest of the commercial capital, Abidjan. Rebels denied they had attacked, and French forces said they had seen no sign of combat.