Mbeki hosting I Coast talks
2005-06-28 14:42
Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki is hosting Ivory Coast leaders on Tuesday for a new round of talks aimed at reviving a stalled peace process in the war-divided west African nation.
Two months after Ivory Coast's rebels and government signed the latest in a series of deals, the crisis in Ivory Coast has only got worse with rising tension and new violence.
A deadline for the start of disarmament passed on Monday with no apparent efforts by either side to lay down their weapons.
Mbeki, who brokered the latest deal, will meet with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, former president Henri Konan Bedie, opposition leader and former prime minister Alassane Ouattara and New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria, according to a statement from his office.
Rebels have controlled the northern half of Ivory Coast since a failed coup attempt in September 2002 sparked a civil war in the world's top cocoa producer.
A French-brokered peace deal in January 2003 failed to hold. In the accord signed April 6, warring parties agreed to end hostilities and disarm in preparation for new elections in October.
Both sides accuse each other of responsibility for the latest violence in volatile western Ivory Coast, where up to 70 people were hacked or shot to death in Duekoue, a town nominally controlled by the government where pro-government militias are active.
- AP