Too much to gain to give up the gun?

Besuited rebel leader, Guillaume Soro, and loyalist militia boss, Chief Denis Glofiei Maho, may be on opposite sides of the divide in Cote d'Ivoire, but they have one thing in common. Both are confident that when the time comes, every one of the thousands of fighters under their command will hand over their weapons. “There will be absolutely no problem," said Soro, the leader of the New Forces rebels that have controlled the northern half of the country for the last three years. "No-one will refuse to disarm. I am in full control of the zone,” the diminutive leader said, as muscular bodyguards armed with pistols and rifles manned the doorway to his air-conditioned office in a former nursing college in the central city of Bouake. Some 300 km west, on the other side of the buffer zone monitored by UN and French peacekeepers, Maho maintains that the youths he assembled and armed will hand over their Kalashnikovs at his say-so. “We are ready to disarm before the rebels, even! When called upon, we will disarm,” said Maho from his high traditional chief's throne, as fighters cradling semi-automatic rifles looked on. Both the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south of Cote d’Ivoire are awash with guns that give their bearers -- many of whom are young unemployed men with no military training -- income, status and respect. According to a recent UN report, human rights abuses including summary executions, torture and rape are on the rise on both sides of the frontline, which cuts this West African nation in two. Disarmament programmes have been agreed under a series of peace accords starting with the blueprint Linas-Marcoussis, brokered by former colonial power France in January 2003. But plans to gather in the guns have yet to materialise on the ground. And the UN officials who will be responsible for coordinating the disarmament programme, are getting more concerned that fighters up and down the country are going to be unwilling to hand in their weapons. “By demanding that these young men give up their guns, we are demanding that they give up a life they have been accustomed to for three years. They’re not all going to want to do that,” said one UN official who asked not to be named. Bouake is the showcase of the New Forces empire and Soro and his deputies are keen to point out the differences between their uniformed fighters and other West African rebels, like those in neighbouring Liberia, where until two years ago drugged-up teenagers, sporting women’s wigs and flip-flops, terrorised civilians. “People remark on that when they come to Bouake. They say we are not like rebels. They say that we are nice and kind,” said rebel spokesman, Sidiki Konate. But in the dusty city of Korhogo, some 250 km from Soro’s base, power struggles between rebel commanders sparked a shoot-out last year in which some 100 died, according to Amnesty International. And in rebel-held Bouna, in north-eastern Cote d’Ivoire, fighters speed around the streets in requisitioned cars decorated with animals hides and juju spells. Residents say they live in fear of persecution. In government-controlled territory, the situation is no better. The residents of Guiglo say they are weary of tipping out their pockets to the hungry young men who make up Maho's ranks and are collectively known as the Resistance Forces for the Grand West. Maho reckons his 10,700 men have about 2,000 guns between them but he says he has more potent weapons at his disposal. “We don’t just fight with guns,” Maho said as he chewed on a kola nut, a mild stimulant, “We can block someone’s road with rain, we can do all kinds of things - magic exists and it is especially strong here in the forest.”

Resident Faulbert Pan refuses to go to Abidjan because of the racketeering en route

Though amulets and mysticism are less in evidence among the official government security forces, they have the same love of extorting cash from travellers at roadblocks, residents say. “I won’t go to Abidjan,” said Faulbert Pan who sells Chinese medicines on the market in rebel-held Man in western Cote d’Ivoire. “There are too many racketeers on the road.” “On the rebel side you can negotiate, but not with the government lot. They charge you for your bags, for not having the right papers, or whatever," he said. "By the time you get where you’re going you have no money left!" Under a UN resolution, President Laurent Gbagbo has been given up to 12 more months as head of state. During that time, disarmament needs to be completed and elections, which should have been held last Sunday, must take place. UN officials say that the machinery is in place for those goals to be achieved. It simply remains for the leaders to find the necessary political will. But some diplomats maintain that it will take more than an election to reign in the monster of loosely-controlled armed fighters that has been unleashed on both sides of the divided country. “If we get to elections, all those who suddenly have no future and have become used to a culture of war and impunity are going to find that they are losing out and they are not going to like that,” said one senior diplomat. “Then we’re going to see a rise in armed crime and general thuggishness.”