Embattled Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on Wednesday postponed a key address to the nation on a power-sharing peace deal with rebels that has been opposed by the military and leading political parties and fuelled sweeping violence against France, which brokered the pact.

An informed source said Gbagbo would make the speech, widely expected on Wednesday evening, later in the week after pursuing consultations with key parties to the peace process to end a four-month war that has split the country in half.

Leading parties, including the ruling Ivorian Popular Front, said in Paris they would not let rebels have the vital defence and interior portfolios under the deal, echoing the armed forces who made their opposition known to Gbagbo on Monday.

The pact reached at a summit of African leaders has sparked renewed ethnic and political bloodshed in Ivory Coast as well as anti-French riots by people who contend Paris forced Gbagbo to concede too much to the rebels.

Parties in Paris, with the exception of the opposition Rally of Republicans, said summit decisions were taken "against the letter and spirit" of the peace accord, but also insisted they were not undermining the whole deal.

"The summit of (African) heads of state, on its own authority, named the prime minister, split out the ministries and attributed the defence and interior posts" to the rebel groups," they complained.

Meanwhile, the main rebel Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI) group holding the northern half of the world's leading cocoa producer since September, on Wednesday said it had put its forces on full alert, anticipating attacks by government troops.

"Our sources in the government-controlled zones have warned of movements towards some of our positions but we don't know which ones," MPCI's Antoine Beugre said.

"We fear an attack during the night and all our men are on a state of maximum alert since 5:00 pm (1700 GMT)."
MPCI General Secretary Guillaume Soro on Wednesday said in Paris that France would do well to "urgently" evacuate its citizens from Ivory Coast, fanning fears in the expatriate community who already feel threatened.

France, which has 2,500 soldiers monitoring fragile ceasefires in Ivory Coast, announced the deployment of more troops as top French firms Wednesday were evacuating some 400 staff and families in the wake of sweeping demonstrations and attacks, according to informed sources.

The companies included Bollore, Bouygues, Air Liquide, France Telecom, Groupe Peyrissac and three leading banks - BNP-Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Lyonnais.

Some had already left and the others were to leave in the coming hours, they said.

The contested peace pact - which has sparked outrage here - also provides for a new unity government headed by a "consensus" prime minister and limits Gbagbo's powers.

Gbagbo sparked confusion immediately upon his return from Paris, where he has accepted the deal in front of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, 10 African leaders and European Union representatives.

"Do not worry, what was said ... were proposals," he told thousands of disgruntled youths who met him at the president's office, casting doubt on whether he was ready to accept the deal at all.

Gbagbo's Interior Minister Paul Yao N'dre has declared the Paris pact "null and void" and said rebels in the government could "destabilise the whole of the sub-region." The main rebel group on Wednesday heaped scorn on the armed forces, saying the forces who were opposed to them were "not worthy of leading the destinies of the defence and security forces of the new Ivorian nation." - Sapa-AFP.