Opposition political parties in Ivory Coast have demanded that President Henri Konan Bedie explain his alleged role in an oil sanctions-busting deal with the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

It follows a South African investigation into attempts by the former regime to evade international oil sanctions, in which he was named.

A report said Mr Konan Bedie, who was parliamentary Speaker at the time, was involved in a plan to sell millions of barrels of crude oil to the apartheid regime in the early l990s.

It's not known if the deal went ahead.