The 14-month crisis crippling Ivory Coast looked no nearer to resolution after talks between ex-rebels and Prime Minister Seydou Diarra failed to return the rebels to the unity government they abandoned in September. Two days of talks with Ghana President John Kufuor, the main regional mediator for the faltering peace process in the world’s top cocoa producer, had raised hopes of an end to the power struggle that has divided a country once considered a beacon of stability for west Africa and devastated its economy. “The talks were aimed at breaking the current impasse and creating appropriate conditions for the return of the ministers of the New Forces into the government of national reconciliation,” presidential spokesman Kwabena Agyepong said in a statement. The ex-rebels, known as the New Forces since January peace accords, withdrew from the unity government over President Laurent Gbagbo’s failure to devolve powers to allow Diarra to implement the deal. Full Story
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