Abidjan, Nov 05: Rebels in Ivory Coast on Monday refused to resume peace talks aimed at ending more than six weeks of bloody unrest until their demand for new elections in the west African state is on the agenda. But the government stood firm, demanding that talks must resume soon.
"We will not set foot in Lome unless we are allowed to discuss all our demands," Guillaume Soro, head of the rebels' political wing, the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI), told reporters.

"The primary demand of our supporters is that democratic elections are organised in Ivory Coast" and that President Laurent Gbagbo resign, he said.

But he said the rebels were not completely ruling out going to the Togolese capital where peace talks were supposed to resume on Monday. Bureau Report