Ivory Coast Defense Minister Ousted

Fighting near a key town of Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry raised fears of spreading turmoil as the defense minister who had vowed to quell a 3-week-old rebellion was stripped of his portfolio.

A West African envoy was scheduled to make another visit today to a stronghold of the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast rebels, whose war has left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands.

Residents of Daloa, about 200 miles northwest of the main city of Abidjan, heard fighting on the northern edge of the city, but after night fell and a curfew came into force they were unsure who was in charge.

Security officers said they were too busy to comment.

The rebel advance during the week sent world cocoa prices to near 17-year peaks on fears of disruption to exports from the world’s biggest producer. Daloa is a key hub for the cocoa industry. It also stands at the boundary between the Christian south that largely supports President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebel-held Muslim north.

Hard-line Defense Minister Moise Lida Kouassi was stripped of his portfolio Saturday and replaced by former Cabinet director Kadie Gaye Bertin.

Kouassi, who kept his rank and moved to a job in the president’s office, was widely seen as one of those close to Gbagbo who favored a military solution to the conflict and opposed talks with the rebels before they disarmed.

The removal of Kouassi had been among the demands of rebels who agreed to a West African-brokered cease-fire this month.

Hopes of that truce collapsed when Gbagbo refused to sign it until the rebels gave up their weapons.

Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio is in Ivory Coast to try to restart mediation.

Gadio has held talks with Gbagbo and on Saturday flew to Bouake, about 190 miles north of Abidjan, to meet with the rebel commanders for more than two hours. The envoy is to return there today.

A top rebel commander, Cherif Ousmane, described the meeting with Gadio as positive and said the group had dropped its precondition of Gbagbo’s resignation for moving the peace process forward.