/ 25 September 2000

LEADERS DISCUSS IVORY COAST TENSIONS

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki has joined leaders from ten other nations in the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in the Togo capital, Lome to discuss the growing political tension in the Ivory Coast. Trouble in Ivory Coast began when its ruler, General Robert Guei, decided to run for office, after telling the nation in the wake of the December 24 coup that he had no desire for power and would prepare the way for free elections. Guei has just sacked his two top aides in a reshuffle of his junta-dominated government, after a bloody armed assault on his home early last week which he described as an assassination attempt.