Ivory Coast's army chief is making his first foray behind rebel lines, pursuing a new peace accord already challenged by disputes over disarming and charges that his forces are recruiting foreign fighters to renew conflict.
"Will the Pretoria Accord be just words, or action?" the UN Information Network asked in an analysis reflecting skepticism following the failures of similar agreements signed in France and Ghana last year.
On Wednesday last week, all parties to the Ivorian conflict agreed to end hostilities and immediately start disarming at a meeting mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki. It was their first face-to-face meeting since a failed coup in September 2002 erupted into civil war.
On Wednesday, Mbeki sent a letter saying all signatories to the French peace agreement must be allowed to contest presidential elections, scheduled for October, according to the text broadcast on Wednesday night on Ivory Coast state television.
Ivory Coast's Constitution was amended with a nationality clause that barred President Laurent Gbagbo's most potent rival from the race: former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, who disputes government claims that his mother is not Ivorian.
According to Mbeki's proposal, Ouattara can run.
No immediate comment was available from any of the players. On Tuesday, Ivory Coast's UN ambassador, Philippe Djangone-Bi, refused to say whether the government would abide by any decision made by Mbeki.
Speaking in New York, he chided skeptics, and said: "We in Ivory Coast believe that it is necessary to give peace a chance."
Back home, tension mounted with a confrontation between pro-government militia fighters who prevented French troops from patrolling in western Ivory Coast, and gunmen firing up to 20 shots at a UN outpost in the government-held south. No one was injured in the incidents, but they were seen as indicators that militant government supporters are not willing to end hostilities.
There are growing fears that tensions will explode into renewed war and spread to neighboring countries if a peace is not enforced.
"Extremists on both sides would probably take up arms again," French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in an interview published on Wednesday in Le Figaro.
"If the partition of Ivory Coast was confirmed, violence would without doubt spread to neighboring countries and provoke a destabilization of West Africa," she said. "By capillary action, all of Africa, which is very fragile at the moment, would be overtaken by the questioning of frontiers and inter-ethnic clashes."
Fighters loyal to Gbagbo are ignoring his commitment to dismantle and disarm pro-government militias.
"We do not trust these [rebel] guys and it is out of the question to lay down our weapons and let them slaughter our parents," said Denis Maho Glofiehi, the leader of the pro-government Liberation Front of the Great West militia, on Wednesday from his base in the western cocoa-belt town of Guiglo. "For security reasons, the disarmament will have to be done simultaneously, but not before the rebels."
He spoke shortly after about 200 of his fighters laid down their weapons in Abidjan, the capital, at a ceremony chaired by Major General Philippe Mangou, the hardliner recently appointed head of security forces.
"Your example should be followed by our brothers on the other side," Mangou said, referring to the rebels.
The main New Forces rebel group says it is willing to disarm, but: "First of all, the militias must be dismantled and disarmed," spokesman Sindou Cisse said.
However, the rebels accused Gbagbo of recruiting 3,000 Liberian mercenaries and planning to use them to conduct attacks that he would blame on the rebels.
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