Ivorian ruler Guei denies torture, denounces plots

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Ivory Coast's military ruler General Robert Guei on Monday rejected suggestions that soldiers who attacked his home in an apparent assassination attempt last month had been tortured or killed.

Guei also denounced what he called plots to win power in the West African country by creating disorder.

Guei, who plans to contest an October 22 presidential election to restore civilian rule, said he had banned political leaders from traveling abroad because of the plots but said normal political activity would resume once campaigning began.

"You have some Ivorians who think that they can impose their will through (creating) disorder. Their dream today is to set Ivory Coast ablaze," he said.

Guei's comments followed accusations by rights group Amnesty International and members of soldiers' families that at least one soldier arrested after the September 18 attack had been killed and others were tortured or their whereabouts unknown.

"Those who were taken, are there," Guei told foreign journalists. "In the army there are no scenes of torture."

Asked whether any of the attackers had been summarily executed after their arrest, he side-stepped the question and blamed the fugitive number two of the ruling military junta, General Lassana Palenfo, for anything that may have happened.

"Palenfo himself sent them to commit the crime. If anything happened, he alone is responsible," Guei said.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is waiting for the supreme court to rule on the eligibility of the 19 candidates who have registered to contest the presidential election. The deadline is Saturday.

A dispute over the nationality of former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, who draws his support from the Muslim north, has split the country along ethnic and religious lines.

Apart from Palenfo, Guei -- who came to power in Ivory Coast's first coup in December -- has accused ousted President Henri Konan Bedie, who is in exile in France but is among the presidential candidates, of plotting to create disorder through third parties and of sending people on suicide missions.

Palenfo and fellow fugitive General Abdoulaye Coulibaly, who are both widely seen as close to Ouattara, are being investigated on charges of plotting a coup and trying to kill Guei. Guei says both are at Nigeria's embassy.

Guei also issued a warning ahead of election campaigning: "If you go out with no desire to cause trouble, there is no problem, but, if you go out to foment a revolt, then we will not accept it," he said.

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