Government troops prepare all-out assault as Ivory Coast ceasefire efforts fail

Government troops were heading north towards rebel-held areas in Ivory Coast yesterday as rebels prepared themselves for the assault.

"There's firing all over the place," said a frightened resident sheltering in her home in Bouaké, Ivory Coast's second-largest city, which has been in rebel hands for more than two weeks. The woman said that heavy shooting had started yesterday afternoon and was still going on two hours later.

A promised ceasefire between government troops and rebels in Ivory Coast was called off, leaving peace envoys locked in talks about what to do next, the Togolese Foreign Minister said after talks with the Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo. Koffi Panou said the government was refusing to sign the document, arguing that rebels should disarm first.

Ivorian authorities "believe that their government is legitimate and should not be considered on the same levels of legitimacy as the rebels", said Mr Panou. "For the moment, they will not sign. The ceasefire will not take place."

Envoys from six west African countries met President Gbagbo later in Abidjan, the former French colony's commercial centre on the coast, to discuss how to proceed.

French troops based in the capital, Yamoussoukro, between Bouaké and Abidjan, said they had not seen fighting in the region. But Colonel Frederic Thuet, in charge of French operations at Yamoussoukro, reported about 300 Ivorian ground troops moving north on Saturday.The ceasefire was originally scheduled to have been signed on Friday.

The uprising started on 19 September with a failed coup attempt. The rebels have gathered support from northerners who complain that the southern-based government treats them as second-class citizens. Northerners are predominantly Muslim and from different ethnic groups than the largely Christian southerners. The rebels are also claiming that only the French military presence at Yamoussoukro is stopping them from marching southwards on Abidjan.(AP)