Three rebel groups in Ivory Coast are due to meet to discussing joining forces in the three-month conflict in the west African country.
The rebels have threatened war on French troops for blocking their advance on the prized cocoa heartland.
The main rebel Ivory Coast Patriotic Movement (MPCI), which rapidly occupied the northern half of Ivory Coast after launching an army rebellion on September 19th, said the talks would begin in their central headquarters of Bouake this morning.
Two new rebel groups which surfaced at the end of November in western Ivory Coast and seized key towns - the MJP (Movement for Justice and Peace) and the MPIGO (The Far West Ivory Coast People's Movement) - would discuss a range of issues with the MPCI, a statement by the latter said.
Topping the agenda would be a proposed merger of the groups to consolidate the fight against the regime of President Laurent Gbagbo, whom the insurgents have vowed to topple.
The MPCI rebels accuse Mr Gbagbo of further marginalising the Muslim majority north, which they say has already been the target of discrimination for years.
The rebels have threatened all-out war on former colonial ruler France for firing on MPIGO rebels on Saturday and halting their march on the strategic western town of Duekoue - on the route to the cocoa capital of Daloa. .
AFP