UN seeks end to Ivorian violence

The talks have been taking place in Togo

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has appealed to the government and rebels in Ivory Coast to end the violence and strive for national reconciliation.

His call came amid UN concerns over reports of summary executions, kidnappings and torture in the troubled West African nation.

As soon as the conditions are right, we are ready to restart negotiations at any moment

Rebel leader Guillaume Soro

It also coincided with mediation efforts in the Togolese capital, Lome, to bring the Ivorian government and rebels back to the negotiating table.

The rebels suspended talks on Saturday after the brother of a rebel leader was killed.

They said their withdrawal was only temporary, but the rebel leader, Guillaume Soro, discounted suggestions the talks could resume in the next day or two.

Accusations

Mr Vieira de Mello urged the Ivorian Government to open "independent and in-depth judicial enquiries to identify those responsible" for the reported atrocities, according to a UN statement.

The rebel side has accused security forces of carrying out executions of government opponents and rebel sympathisers.

The army, in turn, accuses the rebels of summary killings, other abuses of civilians and of creeping closer to the front line.

Togo's President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who has been mediating in the crisis, met representatives of the rebels over the weekend to discuss ways of restarting the talks.

Rebel negotiator Guillaume Soro said the rebels have not pulled out of the talks altogether.

"As soon as the conditions are right, we are ready to restart negotiations at any moment," he said.

Further violence

The rebels walked out of the talks on Friday after the death of the brother of Louis Dakoury-Tabley, a former ally of President Gbagbo who defected to the rebel side.

The killing came just two days after Mr Dakoury-Tabley joined the rebels' political wing, the Patriotic Movement for Ivory Coast.

The BBC correspondent in Ivory Coast says that, even while attending the talks in Lome, both sides have been preparing for a possible further outbreak in the fighting.

Rebel groups said on Sunday that they had sent 600 men and supplies from the north of the country to reinforce their central stronghold of Bouake.

"The negotiations in Lome have failed, so it's normal that we should prepare ourselves," a rebel representative in the northern town of Korhogo told the French news agency AFP.

But he also added: "We will not fire the first shot. We will wait for Gbagbo to violate the ceasefire."

The current crisis is the worst to hit Ivory Coast since independence from France in 1960.

The rebels - army mutineers and former soldiers - took up arms against the government after a failed coup on 19 September, and now control much of the Muslim-majority north, while government forces retain the largely Christian south.