In a statement read on national television, the FDS spokesman, colonel Hilaire Babri, thanked the "Youth Patriots" on behalf of the FDS chief of general staff for having turned up in large numbers at the recruitment center.
"The moment for effective enrolment of these youths has now come," he announced, appealing to them to be calm since all of them will be "recruited."
Following a request by the leader of "Youth Patriots", Charles Ble Goude, on March 21, thousands of youths loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo flocked to the army headquarters in Abidjan to be registered to "fight to liberate Cote d`Ivoire."
They are expected to help stop the offensive by forces supporting Gbagbo`s presidential rival Alassane Ouattara. A number of strategic towns in western and central parts of the country have fallen in the hands of Ouattara`s Republican Forces since December.
The UN estimates that Cote d`Ivoire`s post-election violence has claimed the lives of more than 460 people and displaced at least 1 million residents.
Both men claim the winner of the Nov. 28 presidential run-off. While the international community recognizes Ouattara as the president-elect, Gbagbo refuses to cede power to his rival, leading to country to a new all-out confrontation after the 2002- 2003 civil war.
(Uu.KR-DLN/H-AK)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
