Cote d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro,
leader of the rebel group New Forces (NF), signed a peace deal in
the capital of Burkina Faso Ouagadougou Sunday, outlining details
to revive the peace process stalled for years by disagreements.
According to the accord, the two sides agreed to form a new
unity government within five weeks, create a new joint military
command involving the government military and the rebels, disarm
the rebels and militia, dismantle the vast buffer zone patrolled by
the United Nations and French peacekeeping forces, and to restart
the identification process to register every eligible voter.
"It is peace through Africans, and I am proud of it because all
the problems in Africa can find a solution here on the continent,"
Gbagbo said after signing the agreement.
Soro said his NF rebels were committed to the deal, stressing
that "peace is strongly possible in Cote d'Ivoire."
Former colonial power France hailed the agreement, saying it
should enable peacekeepers to begin pulling out immediately.
Some 7,000 UN and 3,500 French troops have been deployed to
patrol the buffer zone cutting from east to west through the
country, in a bid to prevent fighting in the country.
Cote d'Ivoire has been plunged into a civil war and split into
the rebel-held north and government-controlled south since a coup
failed to oust Gbagbo in September 2002.
Last December, Gbagbo called for "direct dialogue" with the NF
rebels so as to revive the peace process in the west African
country.
The peace talks, brokered by Burkina Faso's President Blaise
Compaore, kicked off on Feb. 5 in Ouagadougou.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2007)
