20101015
africanews

A rebel leader in the West African country of Ivory Coast said Identity Cards being issued to voters ahead of an October 31 election have ended all the disputes which had divided the country into two. The leader of the New Forces rebels declared that the dark ages are gone.

"With these identity cards, the crisis of identity and ethnic tensions linked to it are definitively resolved,” deputy political leader of the New Forces rebels and tourism minister in the power-sharing government, said Sidike Konate told Reuters and added "This war is finished."

A 2002-2003 rebellion against President Laurent Gbagbo had divided the cocoa rich country grower into a government-controlled south and a rebel-controlled north, but a 2007 power-sharing deal saw rebels enter government.

According to Reuters, the conflict was largely driven by a disagreement over who can claim Ivorian citizenship, dating back in the late 1980s, when some politicians were discriminating between nationals and "foreigners" or northern Ivorians with foreign-sounding names, ultimately triggering the rebellion.

The October 31 election is expected to throw a newly elected government that will re-unify the south and the north. The vote pitting President Laurent Gbagbo against main opposition challengers Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara, had been postponed since 2005 due to voter eligibility and rebel disarmament issues.