African Union Commission Chairman Amara Essy will visit Ivory Coast for talks on a four-month-old rebellion there, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade told a UN meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday.

"Amara Essy will this Saturday hold meetings in Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast's official capital) to find a way forward between the warring parties," Wade told a news conference after addressing the 22nd ministerial Governing Council session of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

"The situation is very delicate, but I hope my colleague will succeed," Wade said, two days after attending an African Union (AU) summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council endorsed the deployment of French and West African regional troops in Ivory Coast as rebels rejected sacrificing top government posts accorded by a French-brokered peace deal that has sparked widescale violence and anger.

The resolution authorized West African forces and the French troops supporting them to take necessary steps to ensure their own security and freedom of movement and "the protection of civilians threatened with imminent violence."
Ivory Coast dominated heads of state's discussions at the AU summit, during a meeting of the AU's Central Organ for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

"The Central Organ welcomes the signing of the Marcoussis Accord of 24 January 2003 which forms a basis for achieving a lasting solution to the crisis and urges all the parties to honor the commitments made and to create a conducive environment for its speedy resolution," the body said in an official communique.

The Marcoussis accord for peace and power-sharing was hammered out after nine days of talks in the town south of Paris among the Ivorian government, rebels and political opposition, but the Ivorian army and several political parties regard it as a humiliation for the authorities since the rebels claim the interior and defence ministry posts.

Addressing journalists in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, AU Chairman and South African President Thabo Mbeki suggested certain amendments might have to be made to the pact to make it acceptable to both sides.

Ivorian President Laurent Gbabgo, who was not among the 34 heads of state and government at the summit, okayed the Marcoussis agreement.

But he now finds himself pulled in different directions, as rebels and France insist he move ahead with the deal while tens of thousands of people have repeatedly gone onto the streets of Abidjan to protest the agreement.

Gbagbo has yet to make a much anticipated address to the nation and has described the accord, which provides for the entry of rebels into the government, as a mere set of proposals.

Rebel leader Guillaume Soro has said it would take rebels just 48 hours to topple Gbagbo if he failed to to implement the peace deal.

Soro, a student leader turned rebel chief from the Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI) group, which has held the northern half of the world's leading cocoa producer since September, said Gbagbo could not afford to dither any longer.

The AU also said it "strongly condemns the grave violations of human rights committed against civilian populations and urges all the parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law." - Sapa-AFP