Koto Sidi,
I hope you have plans of getting out of this place before its too late. It
seems the rebels and the government are going to end up figting a civil war.

Momodou Camara

-----------------

LOME, Nov 14 (AFP) - Peace talks on the Ivory Coast remained stuck in
first  gear on Thursday as rebels rejected west African proposals for an
accord and reiterated that they were not yet prepared to lay down arms.
   Tension meanwhile rose in Abidjan after the government tightened a
curfew  in the city, heightening fears of renewed fighting in the eight-
week conflict in a country until recently seen as a stable economic hub in
west Africa.
   The rebels told AFP they could not accept the peace plan "as it stands"
because it was skewed in favour of President Laurent Gbagbo, against whom
they launched a bloody insurrection on September 19.
   "This proposal has been drafted by the government, it is clear that we
cannot accept it as it stands," rebel negotiator Louis Dakoury-Tabley said
in the Togolese capital Lome.
   "It calls on us to lay down our arms unconditionally. If we accept this
we will find ourselves taken prisoner," Dakoury-Tabley added.
   "It also tries to entrench Gbagbo and his regime."
   The rebels on Thursday afternoon met with Togolese President Gnassingbe
Eyadema, the chief mediator in the Ivorian crisis, for two hours to discuss
their set own of counter-proposals.
   But a source close to the mediation said Eyadema had serious
reservations about "the form and the content" of what they had put on the
table.
   He hinted that the rebels still want Gbagbo's resignation, new elections
and a new constitution -- the same demands on which the talks deadlocked
soon after they began six weeks ago on October 30.
   Gbagbo, who came to power two years ago in an election from which the
main opposition leader was barred, has rejected their calls out of hand and
said there can be no serious negotiations with the rebels until they agree
to disarm.
   The rebels control the Muslim dominated north of Ivory Coast, the
world's leading cocoa-producing country, while Gbagbo's troops have
prevailed in the Christian dominated south.
   On Thursday afternoon, the rebels issued a statement in their stronghold
town of Bouake, Ivory Coast's second biggest city, calling on the people of
Ivory Coast to "remain strong until this ordeal ends one day, bearing in
mind the  intransigence of Laurent Gbagbo and his party who have chosen
their regime above the needs of the people."
   The rebels also called on the international community to take note of a
spate of politically motivated "attacks and assassinations committed by the
regime."
   Proof, the rebels said, that "they are not fit to rule Ivory Coast."
   The government has denied any responsibility for the attacks but on
Wednesday tightened the curfew in Abidjan, sparking panic among residents
who had expected the eight-week old restriction to be lifted.
   It was brought forward by two hours and now applies from 7:00 pm (1900
GMT) to 0600 GMT.
   Outside Abidjan, the curfew will continue to start at 2100 GMT, except
for the areas that have been declared war zones, where it applies from 1800
GMT to 0800 GMT.
   The conflict is the worst the richest country in west Africa has seen
since independence from France in 1960 and is reverberating throughout the
region.
   Burkina Faso Security Minister Djibril Bassole on Thursday warned that
the Ivory Coast's troubles risked destabilising its northern neighbour,
whom Gbagbo has accused of helping the rebels.
   "This conflict on our southern border, which has been declared a war
zone, had created problems for us," Bassole told the Sidwaya newspaper.
   He added that the stability of west Africa was at risk because the
conflict has sparked "anarchy with all sorts of people and arms circulating
in the region."
   ek-ej-ef/nb
ICoast-talks

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