The political leader of Ivory Coast’s rebels said on Tuesday he would not stand in polls next year seen as key to stability, as a rebel leadership rift threatened to harm efforts to disarm and reunite the country. Guillaume Soro said he would not run in a presidential election, an announcement that came as his leadership of the rebel New Forces appeared increasingly challenged by Ibrahim Coulibaly, a Paris-based military chief. “My objective is not to develop personal ambitions… I declare solemnly that I will not be a candidate in the 2005 elections,” Soro told reporters in Senegal’s capital, Dakar. There have been growing signs of a split in rebel ranks since a group of fighters proclaimed Coulibaly — better known as “IB” — as the movement’s leader. Full Story
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