Mbeki meets Rebels in Ivory Coast

PRETORIA, Aug 20 - South African President Thabo Mbeki met Ivory Coast rebels on Saturday in the latest bid to nudge them to keep a fragile peace process on track in the West African country ahead of an October general election.

"This meeting is part of the ongoing consultations that the mediator has had, and will continue having with all the stakeholders and concerned parties to the Cote D'Ivoire situation," the presidency said in a statement.

Mbeki is mediating on behalf of the 53-member African Union to end a stand-off between Ivory Coast's government and rebels. Neither Mbeki nor Rebel New Forces leader Guillaume Soro spoke to reporters after several hours of closed-door talks ended.

South Africa warned this week it may refer parties it views as blocking the peace deal to the U.N. Security Council this month so sanctions could be imposed on them.

In New York on Friday the Council renewed a plea to both sides to fulfil their obligations under a peace agreement to ensure the October election passes without incident.

Rebel leaders have accused Mbeki of being biased in favour of President Laurent Gbagbo, further delaying a disarmament plan brokered by South Africa and regarded as key to ending conflict in the world's top cocoa grower.

Mbeki's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said on Thursday Mbeki hoped to iron out the rebel accusations with Soro, but there had to be progress in the peace process by an Aug. 27 deadline for South Africa to report back to the United Nations.

The rebels complain about what they say is Mbeki's stand on laws recently passed by Gbagbo concerning nationality, citizenship rights and the composition of an independent electoral commission.

South African mediators say the laws are in line with a peace deal signed in France to end a civil war which erupted in 2002. The rebels say the texts are skewed to ensure Gbagbo's victory in the election.

The rebels, who hold the north of the country and have missed a string of deadlines to disarm, say the new laws do not give sufficient guarantees of citizenship rights for their supporters in the mainly Muslim north of the country.

They fear many supporters would be excluded from voting. Gbagbo's power base is in the largely Christian and animist south.

Ivory Coast's former army chief caused fresh controversy when he threatened to use "any means" to oust Gbagbo.

Mathias Doue, who led the Ivorian army until Gbagbo replaced him in November, told Radio France Internationale on Friday Gbagbo's departure was the only way to end the conflict.


Source:  Reuters