President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast was forming a broadly based government yesterday, but without the support of the former prime minister, Mr Alassane Ouattara, whose supporters staged violent street protests this week.
Mr Ouattara, speaking after talks with President Gbagbo, said: "We have agreed that he could, if he wished, go ahead with the formation of a government today without the RDR.
"Legislative elections are due to be held in December. We can reexamine these questions after the elections," he added.
Supporters of Mr Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans (RDR) took to the streets on Thursday in an attempt to force a re-run of Sunday's presidential election from which Mr Ouattara was barred. Mr Ouattara said before meeting Mr Gbagbo that militants from the President's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) tried to kill him on Thursday.
However, Mr Ouattara referred to Mr Gbagbo yesterday as "President Gbagbo". He had previously refused to recognise the legitimacy of Mr Gbagbo's victory.
The former ruling Democratic Party pledged to work with Mr Gbagbo and told its supporters to be ready to contest parliamentary elections planned for December.
People in Abidjan drifted back to work yesterday after an overnight curfew ended at 6 a.m.
Meanwhile, dozens of bodies of young men, apparently shot dead at close range, littered a grassy clearing in a forest on the outskirts of Abidjan yesterday, witnesses said. The bodies had been discovered in the Banco Forest to the north-west of the city.