Tension in Ivory Coast as Rebels Contest Top Government Jobs
"These nominations stem from (Gbagbo's) desire to scupper the reconciliation process currently underway," Seydou Ouattara, a leading opposition figure and spokesman for New Forces, said late Saturday.
He was speaking after a meeting of the military wing of New Forces, a group made up three former rebel groups that took up arms against Gbagbo's government in a rebellion in September 2002.
Ouattara attacked what he called the "ill-timed" and "blustering" announcement of the ministerial posts during a meeting of the National Security Council (CNS).
The CNS, which includes representatives of the political parties and the defense and security services, has been charged with finding candidates for the ministerial posts by consensus.
The appointments, made after six months of tough bargaining, were designed to complete a unity government set up under a pact to end the West African country's civil war and open the way to disarmament of the rebels.
The Defense Ministry went to Rene Amani, former head of Caistab, the organization that oversaw pricing of cocoa in Ivory Coast, the world's largest producer and whose economy was crippled by the civil war.
Martin Bleou, an academic and leading human rights activist, was named interior minister.
Ouattara said the New Forces "placed the blame on Gbagbo for any consequences that could arise from this situation and which could threaten the normalization process underway". He added that he wanted the international community and in particular the former colonial power France to get more involved in its role as an arbiter of the agreements reached in Marcoussis, France, which ended the rebellion "by calling Gbagbo to order."
In a statement early Saturday, the former rebels in the reconciliation government had already challenged the defense and interior ministry nominations, which they said he been forced through by Gbagbo.