I.Coast at risk of civil war: ex-rebel

2/08/2010 04:26:00 PM

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast – Violent protests over alleged fraud in Ivory Coast's voter lists have put the west African nation at risk of civil war, the spokesman of the ex-rebel New Forces warned Monday.

"We have today in places a real danger to the peaceful coexistence of our communities," said Sidiki Konate in Bouake, the FN's stronghold in central Ivory Coast.

"The communities are looking daggers at each other, ready to attack," he said after a meeting of the ex-rebels' political leadership.

"The seeds of civil war are there, each one is already preparing its munitions," added Konate, who is tourism minister in the national unity government.

He echoed the advice of the FN's former chief Guillaume Soro, now the country's prime minister, that all sides should remain calm as he warned of the possible danger of unrest.

Last week it emerged that Ivory Coast investigators have found evidence of "fraud" in a voters' roll being compiled for long-delayed polls, a judicial source said.

The Independent Electoral Commission refutes the allegations but has acknowledged major problems in managing voter lists.

The election has already been delayed six times since 2005, when President Laurent Gbagbo's five-year mandate ran out on security concerns and demands for a fresh electoral list after a failed 2002 coup.

The fraud allegations triggered more protests last week as hundreds ransacked the court in the western town of Man after more than 150 names were struck off the voters' roll, witnesses said.

The thorny question is whether people of foreign descent, despite being domiciled in Ivory Coast, can vote.

The UN Security Council recently called for an election to be held by May 31, before mandates for a UN force with nearly 8,000 personnel and a French 1,800-troop deployment in the country run out.

The poll is aimed at ending a crisis that began with an attempted coup against Gbagbo in September 2002, which left the country split between the rebel-held north -- which is mainly Muslim -- and a government-controlled Christian-dominated south.