ABIDJAN (AFP) - Ivory Coast's former rebel New Forces warned they would launch an assault if loyalist forces cross into a UN-patrolled buffer zone, after two days of government air strikes on their positions in northern parts of the country.
"If this morning they (loyalist forces) cross the buffer zone we will launch the assault. The New Forces will not stand by and watch if the FANCI (Ivorian armed forces) overstep the line," NF spokesman Sidiki Konate told AFP by telephone from the central city of Bouake.
Konate warned that for government forces to enter the buffer zone would "constitute an act of war".
The west African country has been split in two since an attempted coup in September 2002 triggered a civil war. UN forces are patrolling the buffer zone between the rebel-held north and centre, and the government-controlled south.
The Ivorian government on Thursday launched a series of air raids targeting ex-rebel positions in central Bouake and northern Korhogo, destroying military camps and strategic targets near both cities.
The air strikes have so far left 11 people dead and around 100 seriously wounded, according to Konate. The raids and an outbreak of political violence in government-controlled Abidjan have triggered fears that the peace process could break down entirely.
Konate charged that the Ivorian army had been "trying to get around the UN forces" in the buffer area.
"They have no reason to be in the buffer zone. There are clear rules governing the zone. It is forbidden to enter it with heavy weaponry," he said.
"If they do so we will tell our young people to defend themselves and to repel them as far as possible," Konate warned.
"We will not wait for them to attack us in our towns."
"If they enter (the zone), we will give our forces the green light to head to (government-controlled) Abidjan as soon as possible," he added.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Friday that UN forces had halted a northbound column of government troops. But this was denied by a spokesman for the Ivorian army.
Alliot-Marie criticised as inadequate the early response by the United Nations on the ground. The former colonial power France has 4,000 troops deployed alongside UN forces in Ivory Coast.
The UN should also "exercise serious pressure on all protagonists... those who are carrying out atrocities in person (and) those undermining the political process."
African Union and west African leaders were gathering in Nigeria for a crisis meeting on the fighting in Ivory Coast, while UN agencies have suspended relief work in response to the violence.
11/06/2004 - 12:25 GMT - AFP