Former rebels in Ivory Coast mutiny: official

Soldiers loyal to former Ivory Coast rebel chief Zacharia Kone on Saturday attacked their headquarters in the central west of the country, creating a "combat situation," a New Forces (FN) spokesman said.

"To our great surprise, members of Zacharia Kone's guard revolted at Vavoua and Seguela," said the spokesman, Sidiki Konate.

"They are in the town and they have started to attack the headquarters of the New Forces," he said, adding that "it is a combat situation."

"We are in the process of surrounding them in order to mount a counter attack in the following hours," he said.

The attack involved around 200 Kone fighters who fled into the bush after their leader was ousted in May from his command after failing to take part in a demobilisation event.

Questioned on the motive for the attack, the FN spokesman said the issue was a command problem and not related to demobilisation payments.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower and a former star French colony, was sliced in half after a September 2002 coup attempt against President Laurent Gbagbo.

But after a peace accord, a government was installed earlier this year with Gbagbo sharing power with former FN rebel chief Guillaume Soro serving as prime minister.

At the end of May, 2,568 former rebel fighters demobilised and were grouped in two camps.

The subsequent phases of disarmament and integration are due to be completed before long delayed presidential elections are held on November 30.

The New Forces have pledged to demobilise the estimated 36,000 fighters it claims to have in successive phases.

About 10,000 of them are scheduled to be inducted into the army and the remaining 26,000 reintegrated into the civil mainstream following training in vocational skills.

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