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Ivory Coast talks make headway on nationality row
( 2003-01-18 11:08 ) (7 )

A peace conference aimed at halting the four-month war in Ivory Coast advanced on Friday as delegates said they agreed to review strict citizenship clauses, a major source of grievance in the ethnically diverse country.

But participants said the core issue of early elections demanded by rebel chiefs and opponents of President Laurent Gbagbo would not be tackled until Monday, as a January 24 deadline nears for a peace accord set by talks host and ex-colonial power France.

After reports of clashes in Ivory Coast on Thursday, all sides said calm had returned to the frontline of a war that has killed hundreds in the pivotal West African country after a failed September 19 coup.

In the first sign of progress since talks started near Paris on Wednesday, delegates said they had broadly agreed there was a need to re-examine how to apply existing laws on Ivorian nationality in a country where a quarter of the 16 million population are immigrants.

"Everyone agreed there has been a historic injustice that needs repairing," one delegate from the main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast, said of the way that longstanding nationality were currently applied.

"What we have to debate now, is how we do that," added the delegate, saying discussions would continue on Saturday. Other delegates confirmed an "agreement in principle" that the application of nationality laws needed reviewing rather than the laws themselves.

At issue are arrangements such as an identity card scheme launched last year that Gbagbo's opponents say make second-class citizens of those people who have opted for Ivorian nationality rather than those who have it automatically through blood lineage.

The largely bloodline-based nationality clauses have been used to disqualify politicians including exiled ex-Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, who is excluded from presidential and parliamentary elections on court rulings that his roots lie in Burkina Faso.

FRANCE MAINTAINS THE PRESSURE

Ten delegations representing Gbagbo's ruling party, opposition parties and rebel groups disputing his election in 2000 are taking part in a scheduled nine days of talks at France's National Rugby Center on a country estate south of Paris.

France, which holds sway not least because its 2,500 troops on the ground are vital in containing the conflict, has urged the delegates to produce an accord in time for a January 25-26 summit of African leaders.

The conflict in the world's largest cocoa producer is seen as threatening the stability of the entire West African region if unchecked. France is also keen to protect some 20,000 expatriates living there and safeguard substantial commercial interests.

"We know there is a Paris 1. There won't be a Paris 2," noted one diplomatic source, using the nickname adopted for the negotiations.

Yet progress on nationality, while a core issue, would not be enough in itself to secure an accord.

Rebels demanded before the talks that Gbagbo must step down and insisted early polls were the only way to end the war.

Gbagbo, not due himself to attend the negotiations, has rejected such demands, although he has acknowledged the shape of his government will have to change following any peace deal and before new elections scheduled for 2005.

"We haven't touched yet on the truly political issues," said one delegate, citing the calls for early elections and Gbagbo's own demand that the insurgents immediately disarm.

"They are the really tough political issues we shall get stuck into on Monday," the source added.