Ivory Coast's army today delivered a clear warning to rebels holding half the country that it would take action unless they returned quickly to a programme of peace and disarmament.
The statement read on state television came as a new sign of strain in the West African state, where fears of a return to civil war have grown since rebels pulled out of a coalition government last month.
Frontline commander Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe Mangou said that rebels, now known as the "New Forces", should re-establish contacts with the army, return to a committee meant to oversee disarmament and stop any sort of hostile action.
"If not... the army would not know how to sit for long without a reaction, given the division of the country, the atrocities on those held hostage in occupied zones and attacks on its positions," Mangou said.
Ivory Coast's war blew up from a failed coup in September 2002 and has split the country of 16 million, between the rebel-held, largely Muslim north and the more heavily Christian and animist south.
The foes agreed to declare the war over in July, but tension has been back on the rise since the rebels walked out of a power-sharing government set up under a peace deal brokered by former colonial power France.
Rebels accuse President Laurent Gbagbo of trying to wreck the accord and rearming for war. His supporters say the rebels are not serious about handing over their weapons and are still plotting to overthrow him.