A new report from
UN experts accuses exiled allies of Ivory Coast's former president of trying to
recruit Islamist rebels who took control of the northern half of neighbouring
Mali in a campaign to destabilise the volatile West African region, a UN diplomat
and a Western official familiar with the document said on Monday.
The experts also
accuse supporters of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo of trying to recruit Mali's
military junta, which controls the other half of the country, to the
destabilisation campaign — and of trying to seize power from Ivory Coast's
current President Alassane Ouattara, the two officials said.
The report by a UN
panel of experts, which has been circulated to the UN Security Council,
highlights the connection between the recent political upheavals in Ivory Coast
and Mali and is likely to intensify international concerns that radical
Islamist groups that have links to al-Qaeda's North Africa branch are
attempting to strengthen their presence across Africa.
It documents
meetings between Gbagbo allies and the soldiers who seized power in Mali in
March and with the radical Islamist group Ansar Dine, which took control of the
north in April, the diplomat and Western official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because the report has not been made public.
Ivory Coast headed
to the brink of civil war in early 2011 when then-president Gbagbo refused to
concede defeat after losing the presidential runoff vote to Ouattara. After
months of violence, which claimed at least 3 000 lives, Ouattara took office in
May 2011 but tensions remain high between his supporters and Gbagbo loyalists.
Gbagbo is accused
of crimes against humanity, including murder and rape, for actions committed by
his supporters after the election and is currently at the International
Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, awaiting trial.
The military junta
that ousted Mali's democratically elected leader accused him of failing to
quell the rebellion in the north, which began in January. After the coup,
Tuareg rebels took advantage of the power vacuum and within weeks took control
of the north aided by an Islamist faction. Then, the Islamists quickly ousted
the Tuaregs and took control of half the country.
Destabilisation
operations
The panel's report
strongly indicates that Gbagbo's supporters, seeking a return to power, are
prepared to join forces with the coup leaders and Islamist groups in Mali to
destabilise the region, the UN diplomat and official said.
According to the
UN diplomat, the panel reported that Gbagbo supporters and members of the
Malian junta met in the Malian capital, Bamako, at the end of June.
The junta
representatives expressed interest in supporting destabilisation operations
that would compromise efforts by the west African regional group Ecowas and its
current chairman, the Ivory Coast leader Ouattara, to promote peace and
stablity in the immediate region, the diplomat quoted the report as saying.
Last month, Mali
formally requested military support from Ecowas and asked the UN Security
Council to authorise military action to retake the north. But the international
community is concerned that the coup leader, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, will
oppose any intervention because it could dilute the considerable power he still
wields in Bamako, where an interim government has been installed.
Nonetheless,
France is expected to circulate a draft Security Council resolution, possibly
on Tuesday, to pressure Mali's government and Ecowas to agree quickly on a
workable military plan to oust the Islamic militants in the north. France hopes
a 19 October meeting in Bamako of the African Union, Ecowas, the UN and other
key actors will agree on a plan for military intervention that the Security
Council can endorse.
The report also
documents a meeting between exiled Gbagbo allies and an Islamist representative
on the border between Mauritania and Senegal, the Western official said.
The UN diplomat
said Gbagbo supporters and Ansar Dine Islamists discussed possible future
co-operation, with a view to threatening peace and security in the area and
providing possible military-technical assistance through mercenaries. The
expert panel said it documented an SMS message exchange of a member of the
pro-Gbagbo group where this meeting is mentioned, the diplomat said.
Malicious lies
The report also
described how three separate groups of exiled Gbagbo allies met on 12 July in
Takoradi, Ghana, and agreed to join forces in an attempt to reclaim power from
Ouattara, the Western official said.
Ivory Coast
officials have accused Gbagbo allies exiled abroad of masterminding a recent
series of attacks on military positions in Ivory Coast. At least nine attacks
have been carried out since early August, the most recent of which hit the
border town of Noe in late September, causing Ivory Coast to close its borders
with Ghana. Land and sea borders were only re-opened on Monday.
The report could
ramp up pressure on West African governments, notably Ghana, to enforce more
than 20 arrest warrants issued by Ivory Coast for Gbagbo allies accused of playing
key roles in last year's post-election violence.
The Western
official who saw the report said it implicated a number of high-profile exiled
Gbagbo allies in the destabilization plot, among them Justin Kone Katinan, a
spokesperson for Gbagbo who was arrested in Ghana late last month. Other names
include Gbagbo's second wife, Nady Bamba, and Charles Ble Goude, former leader
of a pro-Gbagbo youth organisation who has been implicated by Human Rights
Watch in grave crimes committed during the conflict.
A statement sent
by a lawyer for Ble Goude, whose whereabouts are unknown, rejected the report,
branding its allegations as "malicious lies which have been purposefully
promoted by those who wish to prevent his return to public service" in
Ivory Coast.
"Charles Ble
Goude, furthermore, regrets the lack of impartiality shown by the group of
experts in failing to contact him through his legal representative in order to
obtain his response to the allegations," the statement said.