Liberian President Charles Taylor went into talks Saturday with his Ivorian counterpart Laurent Gbagbo on the civil war Taylor flew to the town of Kara in northern Togo, where he was met by Gbagbo and Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who heads a contact group of west African nations seeking to deal with the crisis.

All parties to the war that started in Ivory Coast with a rebellion on September 19 have signed a ceasefire and formed a national reconciliation government, but fighting continues close to the western border with Liberia.

In that part of the country, Liberian mercenaries were recruited by both the Ivorian armed forces and rebels, and reports from refugees, rebels and a French peacekeeping force say that these men are running wild and terrorising the civilian population.

Taylor's government has for its part denied any role in the conflict in Ivory Coast, but each country has accused the other of using Liberian forces in destabilisation bids. The Liberian government has faced a mounting insurgency since 1999 - Sapa-AFP