Crisis summit tackles Ivorian conflict

But several West African leaders including the chief mediator, Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, are reported not to be attending the talks in Senegal, but sending ministers instead.

The Ivorian Government is fighting rebels who have taken control in the north since an armed uprising began in September.

Several weeks of peace negotiations sponsored by the regional body Ecowas have made little progress.

France, which has been trying to save a truce that was broken recently in the west of the country, is expanding its peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast to 2,500 soldiers.

Relief agencies have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis if the conflict remains unresolved.

Until recently Ivory Coast - the world's largest cocoa producer and a key regional transportation hub - was regarded as one of the most prosperous countries in West Africa.

Elusive peace

After talks in Togo on Monday, West African leaders called on the rebels to stop fighting immediately.

The current chairman of Ecowas, Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, has said he wants the summit to come up with a clear, clean programme for the re-establishment of peace in Ivory Coast.

" If the French army had not been there, there would have been a bloodbath "
French Minister
Pierre-Andre Wiltzer

He has stressed that the legitimacy of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo cannot be challenged.

However the rebels accuse Mr Gbagbo's administration of discriminating against northern Muslims, and insist he steps down and calls fresh election - a demand he rejects out of hand.

The Dakar summit, which begins in the afternoon, will be preceded by a meeting of members of a "high-level contact group" comprising representatives of Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo, the French news agency said.

France, the former colonial power, has stressed the need for a political settlement, saying its military presence "should create the conditions appropriate for such a solution."

More French troops - with orders to shoot anyone seriously violating a ceasefire in the country - have arrived this week, making the French contingent the largest Paris has deployed in Africa since the 1980s.

Reinforcements

"If the French army had not been there, if it were not there today, it would have been a bloodbath, we all know that. Therefore I think that in itself justifies its presence," Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, France's Co-operation and Francophonie Minister, told the National Assembly in Paris.

At the weekend, the first contingent of reinforcements for the French military mission in Ivory Coast arrived, despite a threat by the MPCI to fight against them.

On Friday, a spokesman for the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) Guillaume Soro accused the troops of deviating from their peacekeeping mission, and demanded their withdrawal.

Countries involved in summit meetings

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan says the MPCI believes the French are taking sides with the government.

At least 400 people have been killed since the uprising by disgruntled soldiers.

Since then, new rebel factions have emerged in the west of the country.

A quarter of a million people have now been displaced by the worsening war in Ivory Coast - half to neighbouring countries.