Ivory Coast seeks to boost ties with Burkina Faso

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) — Ties between Ivory Coast and neighbouring Burkina Faso should be the backbone of West Africa, Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo said on Sunday on the first day of a landmark visit here.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower and a former star French colony, was sliced in half after a September 2002 coup attempt against Gbagbo by New Forces rebels (FN).

Gbagbo has accused Burkina Faso of supporting the rebels. Ouagadougou in return blamed the Ivorian authorities of supporting a failed coup in Burkina in 2003.

After a peace accord, partly brokered by Ouagadougou, a new government was installed earlier this year in Ivory Coast which entailed Gbagbo sharing power with former FN rebel chief Guillaume Soro as his prime minister.

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