The warring factions in Ivory Coast have agreed to end hostilities, start immediate disarmament and make plans for new elections in a bid to prevent a renewed explosion of violence and chaos in the world's biggest cocoa producer.
"The parties ... hereby solemnly declare the immediate and final cessation of all hostilities and the end of the war through the national territory," said an agreement signed on Wednesday in Pretoria after four days of talks hosted by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
"In this regard, they unequivocally repudiate the use of force as a means to resolve differences among themselves," the accord said, acknowledging the "untold misery and suffering" inflicted on the Ivorian people and the disastrous economic repercussions.
The document was signed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, former president Henri Bedie on behalf of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, opposition leader Alassane Ouattara on behalf of the Republican Grouping, and rebel New Forces leader Guillaume Soro and by Mbeki, who is the African Union's mediator.
It was the first time all the protagonists were meeting face to face since a failed coup plunged Ivory Coast into war in 2002 and was a coup for Mbeki, who said all sides had agreed to the text after negotiations ran for two extra days.
In the face of warnings about the growing threat of all-out war in the former bastion of stability, Mbeki summoned all sides to the South African capital to try to rescue the peace process.
France had brokered a January 2003 peace accord that proved ineffective and President Jacques Chirac had recently said Mbeki did not know enough about Ivorian politics to mediate the crisis in the former French colony.
All sides said they were committed to holding presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled in October.
On his return to Abidjan, the Ivorian capital, Gbagbo said all sides had agreed that the disarmament would begin April 14 in the northern rebel headquarters at Bouake town.
"But at the same time we must break up the militias," Gbagbo said, in a concession likely to anger his powerful Young Patriot militia.
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