ABIDJAN - The mediator in Ivory Coast's crisis, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has hinted at possible direct talks between the country's rival presidents to end a violent post-election power struggle
Odinga spoke at the presidential palace where incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, is still clinging to power after a disputed November 28 election he is widely recognised to have lost.
A spokesperson for Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara, who has been internationally recognised as president-elect but remains trapped at a UN-guarded hotel, said talks would never happen until Gbagbo stepped down.
"We have had very useful discussions with Gbagbo. We have proposed meetings that we have agreed will take place from tomorrow," Odinga told journalists after meeting Gbagbo.
"This is of course something with certain conditions to be fulfilled. We are going now to have discussions with President Ouattara and put to them what we have agreed with this other side. If those terms are accepted, then the meetings will take place tomorrow."
A spokesperson for Ouattara, Patrick Achi, said by phone that no meeting would happen until Gbagbo agrees to cede power.
"If we're ready to talk face to face, that means Gbagbo must have said he's ready to step down," Achi said.
Odinga last travelled to Ivory Coast along with the presidents of four West African countries on an African Union mission on January 4, but failed to persuade Gbagbo to step down.
The mission only succeeded in eliciting a promise that he would ease the blockade on Ouattara's hotel - which he broke.
Ouattara was proclaimed winner of the UN certified poll by the electoral commission and congratulated by world leaders, but the pro-Gbagbo constitutional council cancelled hundreds of thousands of votes in Ouattara strongholds to reverse his win, alleging fraud and sparking international outrage.
The UN mission estimates that at least 247 people have been killed in the dispute.
UN staff have become increasingly victims of attack by pro-Gbagbo security forces and allied militias or mobs in the past few days, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said.
Ivory Coast talks at hand
ABIDJAN - The mediator in Ivory Coast's crisis, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has hinted at possible direct talks between the country's rival presidents to end a violent post-election power struggle
Odinga spoke at the presidential palace where incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, is still clinging to power after a disputed November 28 election he is widely recognised to have lost.
A spokesperson for Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara, who has been internationally recognised as president-elect but remains trapped at a UN-guarded hotel, said talks would never happen until Gbagbo stepped down.
"We have had very useful discussions with Gbagbo. We have proposed meetings that we have agreed will take place from tomorrow," Odinga told journalists after meeting Gbagbo.
"This is of course something with certain conditions to be fulfilled. We are going now to have discussions with President Ouattara and put to them what we have agreed with this other side. If those terms are accepted, then the meetings will take place tomorrow."
A spokesperson for Ouattara, Patrick Achi, said by phone that no meeting would happen until Gbagbo agrees to cede power.
"If we're ready to talk face to face, that means Gbagbo must have said he's ready to step down," Achi said.
Odinga last travelled to Ivory Coast along with the presidents of four West African countries on an African Union mission on January 4, but failed to persuade Gbagbo to step down.
The mission only succeeded in eliciting a promise that he would ease the blockade on Ouattara's hotel - which he broke.
Ouattara was proclaimed winner of the UN certified poll by the electoral commission and congratulated by world leaders, but the pro-Gbagbo constitutional council cancelled hundreds of thousands of votes in Ouattara strongholds to reverse his win, alleging fraud and sparking international outrage.
The UN mission estimates that at least 247 people have been killed in the dispute.
UN staff have become increasingly victims of attack by pro-Gbagbo security forces and allied militias or mobs in the past few days, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said.
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