Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo: «Is it just a plot to get rid of PM Charles Konan Banny?»

© afrol / Frédéric de La Mure / Gouvt. française

afrol News, 13 December - Another chapter of trouble opened in the crisis-ridden West Africa state of Côte d'Ivoire, where security forces reportedly foiled a coup plot to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday. Many however doubt there had been any such attempt as proof yet is to be presented.

In a statement on 'Radio Television Ivorienne' (RTI), the Forces de Défense et de Sécurité (FDS) said it had foiled a coup to remove Mr Gbagbo from power.

Army spokesman Colonel Babri Gohourou said they received information that some soldiers have been approached by civilians and military officers that they should launch a coup between 12 and 17 December this year.

Col Gohourou claimed the coup would have been fatal, catastrophic and destructive because the army had been tipped that coup plotters wanted to assassinate President Gbagbo, key political figures and military chiefs.

What wonders Ivorians is that since the announcement took place, the government is yet to publish the list of alleged plotters. But the FDS spokesman maintained that even if the names of the plotters are kept in secret, they were known to the army.

"The mastermind of the operation, an active official in a political party, is presently under the protection of his/her sponsors after the person was taken out of the hotel he/she lived in through a lagoon," Babri Gohourou said, adding that security forces have been mounting investigations to reach to the bottom of the plot.

Côte d'Ivoire had been the envy of West Africa until 1999 when the country had its experience of a military coup d'état led by General Robert Gueye. And in September 2003, a rebellion broke out in the country's northern part after a veteran politician Alassane Outtara of the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR) was declared a non-citizen.

The following war divided the country between a rebel-held Muslim north and Christian south, and years of peace negotiations and unity governments have not been able to reunite the split country.

While announcing the foiled coup, Ivorian security officers assured that there was currently no cause for alarm, as the situation was under control.

Some analysts hold the view that the alleged coup is a plot used by President Gbagbo to get rid of unity Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny. Mr Gbagbo earlier had refused to abide by a United Nations and African Union order that he should surrender much of his powers to the Prime Minister, in exchange for extending his presidency term for another year without elections.

Côte d'Ivoire has been sliding further into sixes and seven since last month when President Gbagbo took sweeping powers to sack the directors of state media and replaced them by people loyal to him.

The UN and AU have done several means to bring peace and sanity to Côte d'Ivoire through dialogue between warring parties and have therefore condemned any attempt to solve the crisis through force. "The United Nations invites all sides to abstain from any action which could hamper the implementation of the roadmap," a UN release read.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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