Abidjan — Ivory Coasts main opposition leader, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, has held talks with the new president Laurent Gbagbo.
But Ouattara says his party, the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), will not form part of the new national unity government to be set up by Gbagbo, who was sworn into office on Thursday evening. After taking the oath, Gbagbo appealed to his political rivals to join his coalition government.
The two met at Gbagbos private residence in Abidjan for an hour on Friday morning, less than twenty hours after their rival supporters clashed on the streets of the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Ouattara was disqualified from standing in last Sundays presidential election, and said though he accepted Gbagbo as de facto president for now, this was only until a fresh presidential poll could be organised.
Ouattara added that his partys priority was now to mourn and bury its dead - a reference to RDR members who lost their lives in clashes with rival Gbagbo supporters on Thursday. Then, said Ouattara, the party could concentrate on political issues.
His ideal scenario, backed by some influential African and western states, is a re-run of the presidential ballot, from which he and others were excluded, followed by the parliamentary poll scheduled for early December.
Gbagbo has stressed that the election and the constitution are not negotiable.
But Ouattara points out that the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations secretary-general, South Africa and a number of western governments, including the former colonial power France and the United States, are backing his call for a repeat presidential election.
Gbagbo also met Laurent Dona Fologo, the secretary-general of the former governing Democratic Party, the PDCI, which has agreed to take part in his fledgling administration.
The government has named its new prime minister: Affi Nguessan is a 47-year-old engineer by training who was the Minister of Tourism in the outgoing government. Nguessan was the campaign director of Gbagbos presidential bid. The rest of the cabinet was scheduled to be announced later on Friday.
Central Abidjan, which has seen a wave of popular unrest since Tuesday, was calm on Friday with businesses and shops open again and buses and taxis running normally for the first time this week. The situation remains more volatile in the poorer working class districts of the city.
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On Tuesday, thousands of Ivorians took to the streets in protest at the ousted military leader, General Robert Guei, proclaiming himself president on Tuesday, before being toppled on Wednesday in a spontaneous popular uprising, spurred on by Gbagbos claim that they had been robbed of their election victory.
On Thursday the ugly confrontation between the army and civilians turned to clashes among rival Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters. An unconfirmed number of people were killed.
The two parties joined together publicly on television on Thursday to appeal to all Ivorians to stop the violence that has swept through the country this week.
A state of emergency and nighttime curfew have been extended to Saturday. President Gbagbo added that troops would be deployed all over Ivory Coast to ensure peace and security.
The international airport, which has been closed for most of the week, reopened on Friday.
