Ivory Coast President fires rebel chief from government

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Ivory Coast's president fired three rebel and opposition ministers from a national unity government, including the leader of insurgents holding the northern half of the country, state radio said Thursday.

In response, Ivory Coast's rebels accused President Laurent Gbagbo of killing a 2003 peace accord ending a nine-month civil war that left an estimated 3,000 people dead and displaced 1 million others.

"He has killed Marcoussis," rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate said of a January 2003 peace deal brokered in the French town of Marcoussis. "If you want reconciliation and peace, that is not how you go about things."

State radio said Gbagbo had signed a decree sacking rebel chief Guillaume Soro, who held the post of Information Minister.

Others fired included Technical Education Minister Youssouf Soumahoro, a rebel official, and Infrastructure Minister Patrick Achi, an opposition member. All have been replaced temporarily by ruling party members, the radio said.

Earlier this week, Gbagbo ordered rebel ministers to leave a luxury hotel in Abidjan, where they had been staying under U.N. protection for the past year.

The move prompted Soro to call them back to rebel headquarters in the city of Bouake.

Opposition and rebel ministers have boycotted government meetings since March, when over 100 were killed in a government crackdown on an attempted opposition rally.

Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler has about 4,000 troops in the West African nation, backing up a U.N. peacekeeping force which plans to build up to 6,240 by end-July.

Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, was for decades seen as a haven of peace and stability in a turbulent region. That reputation was shattered by the country's first coup d'etat in 1999, which ushered in spiraling ethnic and political unrest.

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