Ivory Coast rebels agree to cease-fire after talks

OUAKE, Ivory Coast -- Ivory Coast rebels agreed to a cease-fire Thursday in a steamroller offensive that has taken half the country in just over two weeks, West African mediators announced -- saying the way was now clear for peace talks.

"They have agreed to a cease-fire," negotiator Mohamed Ibn Chambas told journalists after foreign ministers of five West African nations flew into the heart of rebel-held territory to press for the cease-fire.

Speaking in the central city of Bouake, where the talks took place, he said a cease-fire deal would be signed in the nation's capital, Yamoussoukro, today.

Chambas said he hoped the mediators would be able to discuss the rebels' grievances after the agreement was signed. It was not immediately clear how long the cease-fire would last, or what, if any, conditions were attached to the deal.

Ivory Coast has been plunged into crisis since a Sept. 19 uprising by disgruntled soldiers, who have since captured Bouake and the northern opposition stronghold of Korhogo, as well as most of the northern half of the country. Around 300 people died in the first days of the uprising -- the nation's deadliest ever.

Desperate to avert an all-out conflict, the top West African envoys came to Bouake to urge the rebels to lay down their arms.

President Laurent Gbagbo's government -- having already yielded the north of Ivory Coast to the rebels in just 15 days -- has made clear it is open to a cease-fire.

Peace mission

The peace mission, including foreign ministers from five nations, arrived in French army helicopters and were driven to a French school through quiet streets, which betrayed no signs of the conflict that has split the once-stable nation in two.

At the school, rebel leaders kept the foreign ministers waiting for an hour before driving up in a convoy of pickup trucks. Bearded rebel Tuo Fozie climbed out, shook hands and saluted.

Talks began in a cluster of tiny pastel school chairs under the school's tin-roof pavilion.

The meeting itself provided mediators -- and the world at large -- a look at those claiming to direct Ivory Coast's shadowy rebels.

First contact

"This is the first contact by anybody really with the other side. So we are all a bit mystified as to who the other side is and what they are demanding," Chambas said before the talks.

Heavily armed French soldiers, part of a 1,000-strong force in the former French colony, stood on guard among the palm trees and flowers planted in the schoolyard. Outside the school, rebels, dressed in a mix of uniforms and T-shirts, manned a roadblock.

A French military cargo plane flew the delegation to Yamoussoukro, the nation's capital and a base for the formidable French force.

The delegation included foreign ministers from Ghana, Togo, Niger, Nigeria and Mali -- the sixth member of the contact group, Guinea-Bissau, was not represented. Regional leaders hope to stop Ivory Coast, long an anchor of stability in a war-riven region, from following neighbors Sierra Leone and Liberia down the path to full-scale civil war.

The insurgents include a core group of 750-800 soldiers dismissed from the army for suspected disloyalty. Well-armed and well-disciplined, they have spread north and west.

In a sign of their expanding reach, they entered the far-eastern town of Bouna on Tuesday night, but left the following day.

Their ultimate goal is Abidjan, one of West Africa's leading cities, and the key to holding a once-stable, now-shattered country that remains one of the region's economic powerhouses.