Prime minister and rebel leader meet with ECOWAS chairman

Cote d’Ivoire’s Prime Minister Seydou Diarra and the Secretary General of the rebel "New Forces", Soro Guillaume, on Wednesday held talks with Ghanaian President John Kufuor, in efforts to put the stalled Ivorian peace process back on track. The two men arrived in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Tuesday, but held separate meetings on Wednesday with Kufuor, who as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, has hosted three high-level meetings on the Ivorian crisis. Internatinal news agencies reported that the three men, along with ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas, were all due to meet together later at the Ghanaian Presidential Castle. The Accra meeting was announced this past weekend in Burkina Faso following a meeting between Diarra, Soro and Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore. Although details were sketchy, Diarra had said the meeting would be held to convince Soro’s Patriotic Movement of Cote d’Ivoire (MPCI) to resume their participation in a national unity government. On 23 September, all nine MPCI ministers withdrew from government citing frustrations at the implementation of a peace agreement signed in January in Paris. The rebel movement accused Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo of blocking the peace process. The government however said it was the rebels instead who were frustrating the peace process. On Monday the MPCI declared a "state of emergency" and placed its troops on alert in Bouake and the western town of Man, saying Gbagbo and his army chief of staff, General Mathias Doue, had agreed to restart fighting. The Ivorian army strongly denied that it has any plans to attack the rebels, but the statements by both rebels and government leaders have raised tension in the country. Last week European Commission President Romano Prodi warned that "time was running out" for Cote d'Ivoire, saying is was time to move fast toward peace in the country which is facing its worst political crisis in 43 years of independence. Gbagbo supporters insist that the rebels must first disarm and relinquish all territory under their control, while the rebels on Tuesday repeated that they would not disarm until Diarra was given full governing powers and until there was a change in the nomination of the ministers of defense and security. The once prosperous West African country sunk into political turmoil in September 2002 following a failed coup attempt. Rebellious soldiers seized control of the northern and western areas and have since divided the country into two. The 14-month conflict has brought the former French colony, the world's top cocoa producer, to the brink of economic collapse.