A panel of five African presidents discussed the worsening crisis in Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday, after failing to persuade the country's sitting president Laurent Gbagbo to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Officials of the 53-member African Union said the talks involved Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Chadian leader Idriss Deby, South Africa's Jacob Zuma, Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete and Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore.

The five-president panel, which was mandated by the AU to tackle the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, is expected to continue talks in the coming days, without the participation of Gbagbo, who has rejected its mediation after similar missions by the president to his country to press for his step-down.

The crisis ensuing the November 28 presidential election is developing from a political issue to the military and economic fronts.

While Ouattara, who is recognized by the international community as the president-elect, is calling for the suspension of cocoa exports to cut off financial support for Gbagbo's government, the latter has ordered control of cocoa purchase and exports, threatening to seize stocks if an exporter fails to resume business by the end of March.

The military confrontation between Gbagbo's forces and the New Forces (FN) is escalating, with latest reports of three towns lost to the FN moving south in its offensives. Fighting is also reported near the border with Liberia.

The country is facing an all-out war unless a breakthrough is made in the near future, some analysts warn.

Meanwhile, a humanitarian catastrophe is looming with tens of thousands of people displaced in the post-election violence, including 200 000 in the economic capital Abidjan alone. Many have fled into neighboring Liberia and Guinea, spreading the crisis elsewhere in the region. The United Nations puts the death toll from the crisis at nearly 400.

Cote d'Ivoire has suffered instability in recent years, including the 2002-2003 civil war, and has been divided in two with the FN controlling the north and Gbagbo's government holding the south.

– BuaNews-Xinhua