Political foes pledge reconciliation

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and his foremost political rival, Alassane Ouattara, pledged on Monday to resolve the crisis that bars Ouattara from running for the highest public office, the French AFP reported.

Both men met in Lome, Togo, at the request of Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, Africa’s longest serving leader. Ouattara said that in the spirit of national reconciliation, he would support a peace pact proposed by Gbagbo, AFP reported citing a joint communique.

When the rivals met on Sunday Ouattara told Gbagbo he would only declare a truce if he was “politically rehabilitated” and his party officials released from prison, the media in Abidjan reported. Most have been in prison since December 2000, two months after Gbagbo was sworn in as president.

Ouattara - the prime minister under the country’s first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny - has been barred from the presidency on the grounds of his nationality. However, he has challenged this and, as a result, has been in constant conflict with two past administrations. Outtara’s Rassemblement des republicains boycotted the presidential and legislative elections in protest at his disqualification from both polls.