French Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin said today he would soon travel to west Africa to help find a solution to the crisis in Ivory Coast, split in two after nearly five months of ruinous war
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"We will remain mobilised to find a way out of the current impasse... and it's in this spirit that I will soon go to the region," Mr de Villepin told French lawmakers.
Diplomatic sources in Paris said the minister could travel to Ghana, which just took over the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), but did not give a date for the trip.
A French-brokered peace deal was reached last month to end the war, but the accord - which grants the rebels two key ministries in a power-sharing government - has sparked a firestorm of anger in the west African state.
The French government has come under criticism both from the opposition at home and from the Ivorian political parties for having failed to negotiate a deal that is acceptable to all sides.
AFP