Ivory Coast government troops and rebels controlling the country's north will start to disarm by December 22 before forming a new national army, a foreign peace mediator said on Thursday.
The announcement was made by an aide to Djibril Bassole, foreign affairs minister of neighbouring Burkina Faso which hosted talks in March at which the two sides agreed to reunite the West African country, split in two by a brief 2002-2003 civil war.
"Regroupment of combatants, stocking of weapons and the dismantling of militias will start from December 22, 2007, led by the Integrated Command Centre and under the supervision of (UN and French) impartial forces," Vincent Zakane said.
The Integrated Command centre is a mixed force of rebel and government soldiers already deployed in the area that was once the front line of combat in the world's top cocoa grower. Bassole met Gbagbo for talks on Wednesday in the northern town of Korhogo during the president's second visit to the rebel zone since the war.