The president and prime minister, long-time rivals before an interim power-sharing agreement, arrived separately and were expected to meet individually with President Blaise Compaore before having dinner together.

According to a source in the Burkinabe presidency, the three men are also scheduled to hold formal round table discussions on Monday.

"We have come to see how, along with the mediator (Compaore) and the head of state (Gbagbo), how we can ... give a kick-start to the peace process," Soro said on his arrival at Ouagadougou's international airport.

In 2007, neighbouring Burkina Faso mediated a power-sharing agreement between Gbagbo and former New Forces (FN) rebel leader Soro.

Under the deal, Soro become prime minister and a timetable was established for presidential elections that has since lapsed.

Elections have been postponed several times due to problems with voter identification and registration and no new voting date has been announced so far.

Gbagbo told reporters that preparations for the elections were being held up by numerous problems with the voter identification process.

"Each time, we have to redo the papers on the instructions of the magistrates, the prefects and the sub-prefects," he said.

After Monday's talks, Gbagbo is due to stay on for a regional summit taking place in Burkina Faso from Tuesday.

Related Links
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Abeche, Chad (AFP) March 15, 2009
United Nations forces took over command from European Union peacekeepers here Sunday to protect refugees and displaced people in Chad and the Central African Republic.