Senegal's Wade, AU's Konare in Abuja for talks on Ivory Coast crisis

ABUJA (AFP) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the head of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, arrived in the Nigerian capital for talks on the recent violence in Ivory Coast, according to airport officials.
AU chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is hosting the talks expected to be attended by President John Kufuor of Ghana, who is the current chairman of the ECOWAS regional bloc.
On Saturday, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, who had been asked by the AU to mediate a peaceful solution to the latest outbreak of violence in Ivory Coast, would not attend the talks.
Obasanjo's spokeswoman Remi Oyo said the meeting of the regional leaders would take place at a conference centre attached to the presidential wing of Abuja's international airport.
She was unable to say whether Ivory Coast's increasingly isolated President Laurent Gbagbo, who has been criticised by the African Union for breaking a ceasefire in his country, would attend but confirmed that he had been invited.

11/14/2004 - 12:07 GMT - AFP