BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, Sept 28 (AFP) - Mutineers in Ivory Coast who are holding towns in the centre and north of the west African country are highly disciplined, the blue berets of the regular army set at the correct, rakish angle. They are often bearded, but tight-lipped: just a few non-commissioned officers are authorised to speak on behalf of the "movement", which they insist has no political backing. On September 19, in an uprising that caught authorities and diplomats by surprise, they seized the central city of Bouake, and Korhogo, the biggest town in the mainly Muslim north, and have since captured other northern towns. In Abidjan, the big city on the Atlantic coast, loyalist forces crushed the mutiny at a cost of 270 dead and 300 wounded, according to the government, but it did not specify how many of the casualties were on each side. One small but telling difference between the rebels and the regular soldiers: the rebels do not beg cigarettes, or "sweets" (code for tips). A man who arrived in Mali on Wednesday after passing through much of northern Ivory Coast occupied by the rebels said they had had escorted the mini-bus he was travelling in to the border "when they realised there were children on board". "They even filled up the vehicle with petrol and didn't touch a hair on anyone's head," he added. The children, from Mali, had been on holiday in Ivory Coast when the uprising erupted. In Bouake, where French troops evacuated more than 2,000 foreigners this week, the rebels turned back terrified Ivorian civilians trying to leave, telling them they would be safer there -- despite recent attacks on the city by loyalist forces -- than in government-held Abidjan. Christophe Pocquet, a doctor at the French consulate in Bouake who left with the French troops, told AFP that the rebels were nevertheless treating the locals well. "They are courteous ... go around houses to see if the residents have water, and sometimes distribute a little money and rice to the needy," he said. That appeared to be going down well with the civilians, who are inherently suspicious of soldiers. The government of President Laurent Gbagbo earlier said that former military ruler General Robert Guei -- killed in Abidjan during the initial fighting -- had been the leader of the rebellion, sparked by more than 700 soldiers demanding the reversal of a decision to demobilise them in December. Rebel Warrant Officer Tuo Fozie, who said he was the rebel commander in Bouake, told journalists that Guei had had nothing to do with the uprising. Neither had opposition figure Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister who has taken refuge with the ambassador of France after charging that security forces tried to kill him, Fozie said. "Neither Guei nor Ouattara was behind us," he said. "There is no political boss behind us, so far as I know. "We are soldiers; this is not a political movement. We have demands ... Guei seized power on Christmas day 1999, and ruled for 10 months. He contested a violence-wracked presidential election in October 2000, but lost to Gbagbo, after which a number of soldiers loyal to the general fled the country. The mutineers have demanded that all soldiers in exile be allowed to return, and that those in prison be freed. "We want justice," Fozie declared. The government has also said the uprising was backed by a "rogue state" in the region whiuch had sent in mercenaries armed with heavy weapons, and the ruling party's newspaper fingered Blaise Compaore, the president of neighbouring Burkina Faso, as the "mastermind" behind the rebellion. The mutineers are armed with 12.7mm heavy machine-guns, 140mm mortars, anti-aircraft guns, missiles and bazookas. They all carry AK-47 assault rifles, and often a 9mm automatic pistol as well. Those weapons, as well as impressive stocks of ammunition, came from the Ivorian army, Fozie said. The mutineers are also using requisitioned vehicles. The rebels say they can no longer communicate by telephone between the different towns they have occupied because the government has cut the cellular network, but that they send messages back and forth by road. --------------------- TRIPOLI, Sept 28 (AFP) - The presidents of Libya and Togo, Moamer Kadhafi and Gnassingbe Eyadema, said they are opposed any foreign military intervention to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast, and appealed to the government and rebels there to agree to a ceasefire to end more than week of fighting. The two leaders "made an urgent appeal for the signing of a ceasefire agreement by the parties to the conflict in order to spare lives and provide the best suitable conditions to hold the forthcoming summit of the Economic Community of West African States" (ECOWAS), they said in a joint statement Friday. Eyadema, who arrived in Libya on Thursday for a a working visit, discussed the crisis in Ivory Coast with Kadhafi, said the statement, carried by the Libyan news agency Jana. It said they agreed that "everything possible must be done to preserve peace in Ivory Coast because this peace is necessary for development in this country and in West Africa." But they emphasised "they reject any foreign military intervention in the internal affairs of any African country." Fighting broke out in Ivory Coast on September 19 after a group of soldiers mutinied to protest their imminent demobilisation. The government described the mutiny as a failed coup attempt. On Friday the rebels held Bouake, the nation's second city, and a string of towns in the predominantly Muslim north after confrontations which left at least 300 people dead. Loyalist troops crushed the mutineers in Abidjan after fierce fighting. West African leaders are to meet in Ghana's capital of Accra on Sunday to discuss the fighting. Nigeria said Thursday that it had sent three jet fighters to Ivory Coast as the vanguard of a possible west African intervention source, which ECOWAS could choose to send to help the Ivorian authorities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~