Top West African officials due in Abidjan

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is expected to send a high-level delegation to Cote d'Ivoire to discuss a peaceful end to a month-long insurrection, ECOWAS announced in a statement on Saturday. According to the statement, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria and Togo would be represented at the highest level. The six make up a contact group that was mandated to address the crisis at a special ECOWAS summit in Ghana last month . ECOWAS army chiefs of staff are also expected to meet on Friday in Abidjan to discuss the organisation of a regional peacekeeping force that would be mandated, among other things, to ensure the respect of a ceasefire concluded on 17 October. The ECOWAS force would replace the French troops now acting as a buffer force. According to media sources, the French troops have been deployed around the capital, Yamoussoukro, the central, rebel-held, town of Bouake and the western town of Daloa, news organisations reported. In related news, Angola's ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire, Bernardo M. Dombele, held a news conference on Monday at which he once again denied allegations carried in local and international media that Angolan troops were fighting alongside the Ivorian army. Authorities in Abidjan and Luanda had denied the media reports last week. Over the weekend, Gbagbo also denied that Cote d'Ivoire had bought weapons from the government of Angola. However he told meeting of Socialist International, an international umbrella of socialist parties, that he had ordered arms from private companies which operate in Angola. The insurrection started on 19 September when armed assailants launched simultaneous attacks on Abidjan, the central town of Bouake and the northern town of Korhogo. While loyalist troops were able to repel the insurgents in Abidjan, the two other towns remain under rebel-control. IRIN's coverage of the situation in Cote d'Ivoire