Cote d'Ivoire's insurgents on Wednesday dismissed a promise by President Laurent Gbagbo to hold a constitutional referendum next year, news organisations reported.
"Our demands are a whole. There must be complete and far-reaching solutions," Reuters quoted rebel leader Guillaume Soro as saying. "They speak of a referendum, but that is only one step."
Gbagbo had said on Tuesday in a televised speech that he was ready to hold a referendum "to ask the people, 'do you want to change the constitution, yes or not?'"
"It is just a first step. Our requests regard an overall revision of the administration of power, for which complete solutions are necessary," the Missionary News Agency (MISNA) quoted Soro as saying.
According to BBC, Gbagbo's promise came after the rebels dropped their original demands for his resignation and fresh elections at ongoing talks in Lome. The demands do not figure in their latest proposals to the mediator of the talks, Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema.
The mediator and his team are currently going through the proposals presented by the two sides.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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