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Printable text version | Mail this to a friend February 02, 2003
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) -
Ivory Coast paramilitary police fired guns and tear gas Sunday to disperse rock-throwing mobs angered by the killing of a well-known comedian and political figure.
The riots were the latest violence in Ivory Coast's commercial hub, Abidjan, where loyalists of President Laurent Gbagbo have been protesting for the past two weeks against a power-sharing peace deal Gbagbo signed with rebels to end a four-month civil war.
Sunday's rioters, however, were hundreds of supporters of the government opposition, who suspected Gbagbo's party of being responsible for the shooting death of TV host Ash Karamoko Kamara.
Kamara's family found his bullet-ridden body Sunday morning on a street in Adjame, one of two working class neighborhoods where riots broke out. Helicopters whirred overhead as officers struck protesters with clubs, fired guns in the air and loaded rioters into police vans.
Kamara was the star of one of Ivory Coast's most popular TV series, the Friday night spoof "Who Does That?" In his private life, he was actively involved in the Rally of the Republicans opposition party.
Family members told The Associated Press that Kamara was taken from his home Saturday night by uniformed men who told him he was going to the headquarters of Ivory Coast's spy agency for questioning.
Police declined all comment. Government agents in recent months have been accused of rounding up a number of suspected opposition figures, many of whom have not been seen again.
The mobs consisted largely of ethnic Dioula, a northern-based, mainly Muslim tribe whose members overwhelmingly support the opposition party.
Protests and riots have been a near-daily occurrence in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, since the Jan. 24 signing of a French-brokered peace accord between government and rebel negotiators in Paris.
Loyalists say the agreement yields too much power to the rebels behind Ivory Coast's civil war, which broke out Sept. 19 with a failed coup attempt against Gbagbo.
Rebels, who accuse the president of fanning ethnic tensions, quickly seized the northern half of the country, and since November have taken parts of the cocoa- and coffee-rich west.
Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer, and, with Nigeria, the leading economic center of West Africa. The insurgency has killed thousands, uprooted more than 1 million from Ivory Coast and neighboring nations, and sent many Westerners fleeing.
African leaders have scheduled talks on Ivory Coast's crisis during their two-day summit, opening Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"The Ivory Coast issue is a burning issue today in Africa and we want peace there - a lasting peace," said Desmond Orjiako, spokesman for the regional bloc, the African Union, holding the summit.
In Rome, Pope John Paul II prayed for Ivory Coast, "tried by a grave crisis which is ripping apart the population."
He urged Catholics in the West African nation to promote dialogue. Christians and animists dominate Ivory Coast's southern-based government, while largely Muslim ethnic groups hold the north.
Ivory Coast has been tensely awaiting Gbagbo's promised television address on the peace deal. The army, political leaders and some in Gbagbo's Cabinet already have come out strongly against the deal.
Gbagbo's decision is likely to be crucial - his rejection of the deal risks a return to fighting with rebels, but many fear a mutiny in government ranks if he accepts it.
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