Rebels reject South Africa as mediators

The New Forces rebels categorically rejected South Africa as mediator in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis on Thursday, accusing Pretoria of being partisan after its report to the UN Security Council put the blame for the faltering peace process squarely with the rebels.

"We categorically do not want the South African mediation continuing here in Cote d'Ivoire," rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate told IRIN. "The New Forces will not answer to any action coming from the South African mediation. We will no longer work with them."

The declaration from the rebels, who have held the northern half of Cote d'Ivoire for the past three years, is the latest set-back in a peace process that was to have been cemented with elections on 30 October but now looks increasingly shaky.

Last month, rebels said that the poll could not be held in their territory because basic requirements, such as the compilation of a voter register and the establishment of a National Electoral Commission to oversee the poll, had yet to be put in place.

Since then the South Africans have laid the blame for the Cote d'Ivoire deadlock with the rebels, who are refusing to disarm in the present climate, and the opposition parties, who have also pulled their support for the October poll.

On Thursday, the New Forces rebels put out a statement addressed to South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, the man who briefed the Security Council a day earlier. It said Pretoria, picked last November by the African Union to help end the crisis, had been "discredited" and "disqualified" as a mediator because of its partisan position.

The rebels have also accused South African President Thabo Mbeki of prioritising the expansion of South African industry in Cote d'Ivoire -- the world's top cocoa grower which was once the economic pride of West Africa -- instead of concentrating on their assigned job of working for peace.

He also criticised Mbeki for turning a blind eye to the Ivorian government's "flagrant abuse" of a UN Security Council arms embargo and appealed to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current head of the African Union, to intervene.

"We demand that the African Union, and especially AU president Olusegun Obasanjo, take his responsibility and find a new way," said Konate.

Ronny Mamoepa, spokesman for the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told IRIN by telephone that his government could not comment until they received an official letter from the New Forces.

The Ivorian and Nigerian governments were not immediately available for comment.

On the streets of Bouake, where buildings and services are visibly crumbling since the region was cut off from government funds following the launch of the rebellion in September 2002, most residents that spoke to IRIN supported the rebel stance.

"You know, everyone thinks that Thabo Mbeki has done everything for dealing with this Ivorian problem, but that's not the case," complained retired teacher Francis Coulibaly. "It's always the population that suffers and I think the New Forces are drawing attention to that suffering and that's why I agree with their courageous decision."