Talks between state and rebels to be held in Togo

Talks between delegations representing Cote d'Ivoire's government and insurgents who have occupied locations in the north and centre of the country for over one month are scheduled to start on Wednesday in the Togolese capital, Lome. A seven-member rebel team was met at Lome airport on Sunday by Togolese Foreign Minister Koffi Panou, Minister of Defense and Ex-Combatants General Assani Tidjiani, and the head of Togo's armed forces, General Zakario Nandja, official media reported in the Togolese capital. The delegation included Guillaume Soro, secretary-general of the rebel's political arm known as the Cote d'Ivoire Patriotic Movement (MPCI - Mouvement patriotique de Cote d'Ivoire). It also included Michel Gueu, formerly a colonel in Cote d'Ivoire's armed forces, and ex-soldier Tuo Fozie, one of the more visible of the insurgents' leaders. The government was expected to announce the composition of its team on Monday who will also leave for Lome, government sources told IRIN. According to RFI, the rebel delegation met with President Gnassingbe Eyadema who last week was designated as the coordinator of the upcoming talks. The upcoming meeting followed discussions in Cote d'Ivoire involving representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Ivorian parties. An ECOWAS military reconnaissance mission met with rebel representatives in the central town of Bouake while a series of meetings in which ECOWAS and Ivorian state representatives participated were held in the commercial capital, Abidjan. These were capped by a meeting on Saturday of the organisation's Mediation and Security Council, which agreed to the deployment of some 2,396 West African troops to monitor a ceasefire signed on 17 October. So far, Benin, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and The Gambia have pledged troops to the force.