20101210
africanews

Embattled Cote d'Ivoire leader Laurent Gbagbo has expressed willingness to talk with his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara both claim to have won the Ivorian runoff poll and therefore lay claim to the presidency of the West African state.

Mr Gbagbo said that there will be no war in the country, adding; "we will always end up sitting down and discussing. Let's sit down and have talks".

He also said, without naming his rival directly, that generally people don't have talks when the issue is hot. They wait for it to cool down before having talks.

The embattled leader made the appeal Thursday when he met with people from south of the country, who went to congratulate him for his 'victory' at the presidential palace in Abidjan.

On Wednesday, the President of the National Assembly, Mr Mamadou Koulibaly, reputed to be a hardliner Gbagbo's party member, proposed in an interview with a state-owned newspaper Fraternité Matin, that a unity government be formed.

"In Africa," he added, "that's the way conflicts are resolved after elections".

Mr Ouattara's side, on the other hand, urged all the civil servants to stop any collaboration with the Gbagbo's "illegitimate Cabinet".

In a statement made public Thursday, Mr Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro also appealed to the police and the army to insure their "republican mission with the President Alassane Ouattara, the Commander in chief of the Army".

Early this week, a coalition of 134 Ivorian NGOs issued a statement for voting to be repeated in the disputed regions.

A similar call was made later by a prominent priest, Fr Norbert Abékan, who is organising a peaceful march on Saturday in Abidjan to the UN Mission headquarters. The clergyman said that at the end of the rally, they will appeal to the UN to organise a repeat vote in the disputed areas.

Fr Abékan pointed out that his was a personal stand and not that of the Catholic Church, he belongs to.

However, the non-attendance of the Vatican's representative during the swearing in ceremony of Mr Gbagbo has been interpreted as an act of defiance by some pro-Gbagbo newspapers.

Despite the political stalemate, normalcy seems to be returning to Cote d'Ivoire after days of violence. Traffic jams are back on the Abidjan roads and many shops and offices resumed work on Thursday.

However, a number of goods are still expensive in the markets because of diminished supplies. Most of the schools which are closed two weeks ago, are due to reopen next Monday.