Eight African nations on Monday wound up a summit on implementing a peace deal to end Ivory Coast's five-month war by putting their weight behind a shaky French-brokered accord and the new prime minister, Seydou Diarra, who will head a unity government.

"The heads of state today confirmed my appointment and officially authorized me to form a government," Diarra told reporters.

He said he would meet with Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan on Tuesday.

The summit in the capital Yamoussoukro was attended by Gbagbo, Diarra, the presidents of Ghana, Togo and Nigeria as well as South African Vice President Jacob Zuma -- whose country chairs the continent-wide African Union.

Mali, Niger and Senegal were represented by their ambassadors.

Mohamed Ibn Chambas, executive secretary of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, read a joint communique which noted Gbagbo's acceptance of the "spirit" of the French accord as the "framework" for peace.

It also recognised his will to implement the pact and that he had "immediately charged Diarra to form a new government." Gbagbo said he hoped the new government would usher in a "new era in the history of Ivory Coast," the world's top cocoa producer, which in better times was hailed as a west African economic powerhouse.

He said Diarra had given him an initial list of nominees for the top posts but did not specify if rebels would get the sensitive defence and interior ministries, which they say they had been promised.

Gbagbo said "consultations are going on," and underlined that the formation of the new government would take some time.

"We have to convince and we need to be convinced," he said, and joked that he had "struggled to read Diarra's illegible handwriting." "This is the price we have to pay for peace," he said.

Contrary to a previous report by Ivorian sources, the heads of state were to return to their respective countries after the talks and will not meet with the rebels in their stronghold of Bouake.

The rebels boycotted the Yamoussoukro summit, alleging that it was designed to reopen negotiations on the peace deal.

The peace accord, brokered by former colonial ruler France, was approved by the government, rebels and opposition near Paris on January 24.

But the warring factions have different interpretations of the deal.

The rebels, who took control of half the world's leading cocoa producer after they began fighting government troops in September 2002, said when the accord was forged they had been promised the key defence and interior ministries.

That assertion triggered widespread anger among the military and Gbagbo's supporters, who staged anti-French riots for several days.

And when Gbagbo broke his two-week silence on the accord last Friday, he dodged the issue, saying he had not yet decided on the composition of the new government.

Gbagbo, who said only that he accepted the "spirit" of the peace pact, also rejected the disarmament of government forces and the police --another issue that has ignited passions.

But the rebels were sticking to their guns on Monday.

"The MPCI has seven posts in the (new) government. The first two ministerial portfolios ... are defence and interior. These posts are not negotiable for us," said the head of the largest rebel group, the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI).

"We will not go to a summit which will re-open negotiations," the MPCI secretary general, Guillaume Soro, had said earlier on behalf of the three main rebel movements.

Speaking from Bouake, Soro said the rebels would not disarm unless Gbagbo's loyalist forces also did.

"The text of the (peace) agreement is clear -- all the forces present have to be disarmed," he insisted.

The peace accord says the government must restructure the armed forces with the help of France, and supervise the regroupment and disarming of unauthorised units.

Soro warned the rebels would seek autonomy in the area they control unless the peace accord was implemented in full.

"Gbagbo clearly told the nation he doesn't need us. He shouldn't push us into organising autonomy for our zones," he warned.

He urged France to implement the accord in full and withdraw its troops in Ivory Coast from the ceasefire line. And he accused Gbagbo of playing for time so government forces could rearm and launch a new offensive - Sapa-AFP.