Ivory Coast in Turmoil

A B I D J A N, Ivory Coast, Oct. 25, 2000 -- Soldiers shot protesters in Ivory Coast today when tens of thousands of marchers denouncing military ruler General Robert Guei converged on the center of the main city, Abidjan.

Reporters saw at least six supporters of socialist leader Laurent Gbagbo with bullet wounds, some serious. Protesters said some marchers had been shot dead.

In a separate development, a leading member of Guei’sjunta, Communication Minister Henri Sama, resigned sayingGbagbo had won Sunday’s presidential election and urgingGuei “to spare Ivory Coast a bloodbath” and step down.

“The truth is Gbagbo won the election. I am not acheat,” Sama said, adding that he had asked a fellow juntamember to arrest Guei, who was at the military airport.

The protests, which began on Tuesday after the WestAfrican country’s army rulers declared Guei winner of thepoll, have affected towns nationwide.

Aides of Gbagbo, who accused Guei of robbing him ofvictory and proclaimed himself head of state, said that 11people had been killed on Tuesday, when soldiers fired inthe air and used tear gas, whips and clubs to dispersemarchers.

Paramilitary gendarmes and some soldiers rallied tothe protest movement today, some linking up withmarchers with armored vehicles.

Belgrade-Style Protests

The marchers, who chanted “We don’t want Guei,” “Gueithief” and “Gbagbo president,” massed outside the stateradio headquarters after most soldiers guarding it pulledback to the presidential palace in vehicles, firing asthey went.

Witnesses said that the marchers were negotiating withsoldiers still inside.

Protesters said that it was a similar story at thestate television station in the plush Cocody district ofthe city.

Before the election, Gbagbo had threatenedBelgrade-style popular protests if he was cheated ofvictory.

Earlier, rival army factions fought an inconclusivenight battle at the key military base of Akouedo, wherethe country’s first coup began last December.

The battle at Akouedo, on the outskirts of Abidjan,involved tanks and lasted about two hours, a source closeto Gbagbo said.

At the time, the country was under an overnightcurfew, which ended at dawn.

Keeping Up the Pressure

Guei, 59, called Sunday’s presidential election and aparliamentary election set for December 10 to return thecountry to constitutional rule following the coup.

His decision to stand himself followed in thefootsteps of successive African leaders who came to powerin a coup and went on to seek legitimacy through theballot box.

“We will keep up the pressure,” Abou DrahamaneSangare, deputy leader of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front(FPI), said.

Gbagbo, 55, led the fight that brought multi-partypolitics to the world’s top cocoa producer in 1990.

Port and industry sources in the western town of SanPedro, which ships about half of the country’s cocoa, saidall main roads therehad been blocked by protesters onTuesday. Cocoa prices jumped on the news.

Guei, who is technically retired from the army,dissolved the National Electoral Commission on Tuesday.

The Interior Ministry declared him winner of theelection with 52.72 percent of votes cast. It creditedGbagbo, one of four civilians in the race, with 41.02percent and accused unnamed political parties of cheatingin the poll.

Gbagbo’s party said that he had won the election,taking 59.58 percent of votes cast, on the basis ofresults with most votes counted, against 32.91 percent forGuei.

Gbagbo and Guei were the only serious contenders inthe poll after the supreme court barred former PrimeMinister Alassane Ouattara and other politicalheavyweights from running under a new constitutionapproved in a July referendum.

With additional reporting from Vincent t’Sas, MarcKoffi, Silvia Aloisi and Alan Raybould.