Koto Sidi, I hope you have plans of getting out of this place before its too late. It seems the rebels and the government are going to end up figting a civil war. Momodou Camara ----------------- LOME, Nov 14 (AFP) - Peace talks on the Ivory Coast remained stuck in first gear on Thursday as rebels rejected west African proposals for an accord and reiterated that they were not yet prepared to lay down arms. Tension meanwhile rose in Abidjan after the government tightened a curfew in the city, heightening fears of renewed fighting in the eight- week conflict in a country until recently seen as a stable economic hub in west Africa. The rebels told AFP they could not accept the peace plan "as it stands" because it was skewed in favour of President Laurent Gbagbo, against whom they launched a bloody insurrection on September 19. "This proposal has been drafted by the government, it is clear that we cannot accept it as it stands," rebel negotiator Louis Dakoury-Tabley said in the Togolese capital Lome. "It calls on us to lay down our arms unconditionally. If we accept this we will find ourselves taken prisoner," Dakoury-Tabley added. "It also tries to entrench Gbagbo and his regime." The rebels on Thursday afternoon met with Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, the chief mediator in the Ivorian crisis, for two hours to discuss their set own of counter-proposals. But a source close to the mediation said Eyadema had serious reservations about "the form and the content" of what they had put on the table. He hinted that the rebels still want Gbagbo's resignation, new elections and a new constitution -- the same demands on which the talks deadlocked soon after they began six weeks ago on October 30. Gbagbo, who came to power two years ago in an election from which the main opposition leader was barred, has rejected their calls out of hand and said there can be no serious negotiations with the rebels until they agree to disarm. The rebels control the Muslim dominated north of Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa-producing country, while Gbagbo's troops have prevailed in the Christian dominated south. On Thursday afternoon, the rebels issued a statement in their stronghold town of Bouake, Ivory Coast's second biggest city, calling on the people of Ivory Coast to "remain strong until this ordeal ends one day, bearing in mind the intransigence of Laurent Gbagbo and his party who have chosen their regime above the needs of the people." The rebels also called on the international community to take note of a spate of politically motivated "attacks and assassinations committed by the regime." Proof, the rebels said, that "they are not fit to rule Ivory Coast." The government has denied any responsibility for the attacks but on Wednesday tightened the curfew in Abidjan, sparking panic among residents who had expected the eight-week old restriction to be lifted. It was brought forward by two hours and now applies from 7:00 pm (1900 GMT) to 0600 GMT. Outside Abidjan, the curfew will continue to start at 2100 GMT, except for the areas that have been declared war zones, where it applies from 1800 GMT to 0800 GMT. The conflict is the worst the richest country in west Africa has seen since independence from France in 1960 and is reverberating throughout the region. Burkina Faso Security Minister Djibril Bassole on Thursday warned that the Ivory Coast's troubles risked destabilising its northern neighbour, whom Gbagbo has accused of helping the rebels. "This conflict on our southern border, which has been declared a war zone, had created problems for us," Bassole told the Sidwaya newspaper. He added that the stability of west Africa was at risk because the conflict has sparked "anarchy with all sorts of people and arms circulating in the region." ek-ej-ef/nb ICoast-talks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~