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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. "I am happy and proud to be here under these circumstances at a time when the... [read full story]
