YAOUNDE, Jan 18 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac is to hold private talks with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on the sidelines of the Franco-African summit in the Cameroon capital Yaounde, French diplomats told AFP. The sources said the meeting, the first between the two since Gbagbo's contested election victory in October, would take place on Thursday. France's Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine met with Gbabgo on Wednesday, and called for the "consolidation of the democratic process" in the Ivory Coast, the scene of hightened political tensions following the polls. But Vedrine said France regretted regretted that the polls were "limited because of a judicial decision", referring to the exclusion of opposition leader and former premier Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara was excluded from the polls over a ruling that questioned his claim to Ivorian nationality. France's support for Gbagbo has been the subject of a government split, with the Green party -- a member of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's coalition -- dubbing the October polls in Ivory Coast as a "masquerade" and sounding alarm over Gbabgo's emphasis on Ivorian nationality. Jospin's Socialist Party has implicitly supported Gbagbo, a longtime socialist opposition leader before becoming president. Chirac's party also demanded a repeat of the polls so that excluded candidates could stand. Members of Chirac's delegation said the French president would also have a dinner meeting Thursday with Morocco's King Mohammed VI. The sources said Chirac was also lined up for private contacts with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has brought Algeria into the bi-annual summit for the first time. Chirac was also expected to meet Sengalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Burundi's Pierre Buyoya and Namibia's Sam Nujoma. bur-sas/nb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------