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Journalism of Courage
South African President Thabo Mbeki will fly to Ivory Coast on Tuesday in a bid to stop violence there, his Foreign Ministry said on Monday, bringing a hastily arranged peace mission forward by a day.
Mbeki was given a mandate over the weekend by the African Union to try to halt violence in the world’s top cocoa grower, which slipped into chaos after clashes between militant supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo and French peacekeepers.
Mbeki will go to Ivory Coast along with Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.
‘‘The logistical arrangements that we are making were sorted out much earlier than expected. It’s now Tuesday,’’ Mamoepa said, declining to give any more details. Earlier, officials had said the trip would take place on Wednesday.
Earlier, French troops fired into the air on Monday to disperse pro-Gbagbo militants as unrest swept Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan.
Gbagbo appealed on Sunday for an end to anti-French mob violence, which erupted after France destroyed most of the former French colony’s small air force in retaliation for the killing of nine French peacekeepers in government bombing. The bombing came on the third day of air raids on the rebel-held north in violation of an 18-month-old ceasefire. Question marks hang over the government’s ability to control mobs of Gbagbo supporters. —Reuters
