COTE D IVOIRE: Gbagbo agrees to let rival stand in election, rebels give cautious welcome

ABIDJAN, 27 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to use his constitutional powers to allow a main opposition rival to stand in October's elections, bowing to international pressure and to one of the key demands of rebels occupying the north of the country.

In a speech aired on state television late Tuesday, Gbagbo said he would apply Article 48 of the constitution, which allows the president to take extraordinary measures when institutions or territorial integrity are at stake.

"From now on, until the end of the crisis, given the powers conferred upon me by Article 48 of the constitution, I will take all the measures I believe the circumstances demand," the Ivorian leader said.

"As a result, Alassane Dramane Ouattara can, if he wants, present his candidature in the presidential elections of October 2005."

Ouattara's exclusion from the last elections in 2000 is considered to be one of the root causes behind a failed rebel attempt to topple Gbagbo in September 2002, which ushered in a civil war and split the country in two.

Gbagbo, after months of insisting that a referendum was needed to change the rules governing who could stand for election, made an about-turn on Tuesday.

His decision came two weeks after a request by South African President and international mediator Thabo Mbeki to allow all parties who signed a January 2003 peace deal to contest this year's presidential election.

The rebel New Forces reacted cautiously to Tuesday's announcement from the Ivorian leader.

"We thank Gbagbo for using Article 48 to solve the Article 35 problem," Cisse Sindou, an aide to rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told IRIN on Wednesday.

But he expressed concern at Gbagbo's hint of using Article 48 for other purposes other than sorting out the issue of presidential eligibility.

"Mbeki did not ask him to use this clause to create anarchy. We will remain vigilant," Sindou said.

Ouattara, himself, struck a similar tone.

"It arrives three weeks late, but it is still a good thing," he told Radio France Internationale. "(But) Gbagbo cannot allow himself to use Article 48 beyond taking care of the question of Article 35."

Ouattara, the leader of the opposition Rally of the Republicans party which has a strong support base in the north, was banned from standing against Gbagbo at the ballot box in 2000 on the disputed grounds that he did not have two Ivorian parents. His opponents allege his father is from Burkina Faso.

One obstacle to peace removed?

Ouattara's eligibility has been a crucial sticking point in the spluttering process to restore peace to a country that was once the success story of West Africa, but has now suffered three withering years of political crisis.

Although the Ivorian parliament amended the contentious Article 35 of the constitution late last year to allow a candidate with just one Ivorian parent to run for head of state, Gbagbo had until now insisted that the reform be endorsed by a referendum.

That put the onus on the rebels to disarm first so that the country could be reunited and a referendum held. But they refused to lay down their weapons until political reforms had been fully enacted.

After Gbagbo's statement on Tuesday, Mbeki said he was pleased that the deadlock had been broken.

"That's a very important announcement because it means the people of the Ivory Coast are moving towards peace, they are moving towards democracy," the South African leader was quoted as saying by Reuters.

But some opposition newspapers in Abidjan were less convinced, describing Gbagbo's speech as being "stuffed with traps" and Article 48 as "a bomb in Gbagbo's hands."

Meanwhile militant Gbagbo supporters expressed hopes that by acquiescing to the international community's demands, their leader's powers would in fact be strengthened.

"We didn't want him to use this clause but the international community asked him too. So now they have to let him use it fully," said Genevieve Bro Grebe, president of the Female Patriots, who have taken to the streets in support of Gbagbo.

"With this clause he will take all measures he feels necessary to restore peace," she added.

Many ordinary Ivorians, worn out by years of 'no war, no peace', will be hoping that Gbagbo's decision paves the way for disarmament to finally take place.

Previous peace negotiations have set dates for disarmament to begin but the deadlines have come and gone without any weapons being relinquished. Now rebels and government militias are due to start handing over their guns on 14 May.

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