Cote d'Ivoire: Rebels warn of 'dramatic consequences' if attacked; deny involvement of troops from Burkina Faso Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1053 GMT 21 Sep 02 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE Saturday, September 21, 2002 (Transcribed Text) K0RHOGO, Ivory Coast Sept 21 (AFP) - Army mutineers holding the northern Ivory Coast town of Korhogo on Saturday warned the government of dramatic consequences if they were attacked by government troops. "We are calm. The government will have to take into account what the consequences (of a counter-attack) will be," Sergeant Major Prosper Kouadio, speaking on behalf of the rebels, said. Kouadio did not reveal how many men were holding the town, near Ivory Coast's border with Burkina Faso, or the number or specifics of their arms and ammunition. He also denied speculation that troops had come in from neighbouring Burkina Faso. "Why point a finger at other countries when there is an uprising? With 700 men one can revolt without any external help," he said. A bloody army mutiny broke out early Thursday in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan, the country's second city Bouake and northern Korhogo by some 700 troops facing demobilisation in coming months. The revolt was swiftly dubbed a coup attempt by the government, which blamed it on former military ruler General Robert Guei, who along with interior minister Emile Boga Doudou was killed in the violence. The rebellion has been quashed in Abidjan but the rebels were still holding Bouake and Korhogo. The failed coup bid left 270 people dead and 300 injured in Abidjan, an Ivorian military source said late Friday. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, who cut short a state visit to Italy and returned Friday to deal with the crisis, hinted in a television address that a a foreign power could be behind the abortive putsch. He said government troops were facing soldiers armed with heavy weaponry that did not belong to the former French colony's army. "The arms and the targets show that they want to change the regime of the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast has been attacked. The hour of battle is here!" Gbagbo said. Kouadio said the rebel demands were unchanged and included the retention of 775 men, facing demobilisation in December, in the armed forces and the freeing of all jailed troops and gendarmes. (Description of Source: Paris AFP (World Service) in English -- world news service of the independent French news agency Agence France Presse)