IVORY COAST: Stone-throwing crowds attacked the French embassy and army base in Ivory Coast yesterday as thousands marched in an explosion of anger over a peace accord they said France had imposed to the advantage of rebels.
The protests underlined the problems facing the power-sharing deal agreed by President Laurent Gbagbo in Paris on Saturday to end the four-month war that has split the world's top cocoa producer along ethnic lines.
Soldiers from the former colonial power used teargas and riot-control stun grenades to drive demonstrators from their military base in Abidjan and from the French embassy, where marchers started a small fire and damaged the gate.
From Paris, Mr Gbagbo appealed for calm and defended the accord, saying that he had no choice but to compromise. He set off for home straight after a meeting with West African leaders who gave their own nod to the deal.
"There are two ways of getting out of a war. You win militarily, or if you don't win, you negotiate and compromise," Mr Gbagbo said.
The crisis in Ivory Coast began after a coup attempt on September 19th. The ensuing civil war has left hundreds dead, displaced more than one million and split the country of 16 million along ethnic lines.
Rebels accuse Mr Gbagbo of fanning discrimination against northerners and immigrants. His supporters in the largely Christian south say the insurgents are simply hungry for power.
Mr Gbagbo agreed to share power with political rivals and rebel chiefs on Saturday and named respected former prime minister Mr Seydou Diarra, from the rebel-held Muslim north, to head a "government of national reconciliation".
But his own army said yesterday that some aspects of the accord "humiliate the defence and security forces, the state and the Ivorian people." The army nonetheless called for calm.
A hard core of protesters ignored the appeals to stop for a few hours, but trouble appeared to have largely died down by evening as everyone awaited Mr Gbagbo's return.
Overnight, protesters set fire to a French school and smashed up the French cultural centre. They attacked and looted businesses owned by French citizens or African immigrants accused of helping the rebels who hold half the country.
Mobs set fire to neighbouring Burkina Faso's embassy in an act certain to worsen regional tensions.
Demonstrators in Abidjan, the country's commercial hub on the Atlantic coast, were particularly angered that rebels said they had been offered defence and interior ministry portfolios.
"The rebels must never enter government. We say 'No'," youth leader Mr Charles Ble Goude told marchers, comparing the Paris peace deal to France's 1940 capitulation.
French pressure was vital in bringing three rebel factions to negotiate in Paris and getting Mr Gbagbo to agree to a deal that takes away some of the powers he won at disputed 2000 elections, but allows him to stay until 2005 to complete his mandate.
The street protests triggered by the peace deal had echoes of the massive demonstrations that brought Mr Gbagbo to office after then junta ruler Mr Robert Guei tried to rig the results of the presidential election to keep hold of power.
"France has imposed this accord on us. The French will pay for this one by one," said one soldier, heading off to join the protesters.
French President Jacques Chirac condemned the violent protests, but said he saw no reason to send extra troops.
The EU would give €400 million in aid to Ivory Coast over the next five years, European Commission President Mr Romano Prodi told the summit of West African leaders yesterday.
He said that €150 million would be used for immediate funding needs.
A further €250 million would be spent over the coming five years in accordance with the EU's 2000 agreement with African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, he said. - (Reuters)