The ruling party of Cote d'Ivoire has called for the departure of French peacekeepers and the dissolution of a group of mediators ahead of a visit of South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday (September 25). The Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) "demands the departure of all military French forces" monitoring the cease-fire between rebels in the north and government troops in the south, chairman Pascal Affi N'Guessan said in a statement read on state television late Friday.

Cote d'Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo has said he believes the UN roadmap meant to bring peace to the country has “failed” and he will not attend a United Nations meeting in New York next week that was meant to yield a new way forward. "It is four years now that we are in this process and we are not reaching peace. That means the process has failed," Gbagbo told hundreds of army troops invited to a meeting at the presidential palace in the main city Abidjan on Thursday evening.

Authorities in Cote d'Ivoire have arrested two senior French officials of a Dutch-based commodities company in connection with a toxic waste scandal that has shaken an already jittery government in the war-divided country. "They have been charged with infractions of toxic waste laws," said Justice Ministry official Ali Yeo. Authorities prevented the two executives of commodities trader Trafigura Beheer BV from leaving the country late Saturday as they were about to board a flight to Europe.

Presidential elections in the Ivory Coast will not take place by October 2006, as mandated by the UN Security Council. The International Crisis Group blames the "deliberate strategy of politicians who want no peace they cannot dominate," and warns that a failure to set a new date for elections may reinstate the country's civil war. The report calls for a six month extension of the transition period and urges the UN Security Council to implement the targeted sanctions imposed by Resolution 1572.

As the foul, eggy smell from toxic waste dumped last month in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city dissipates, thousands of people are still falling sick, and the United Nations has warned the pollution could seep into the food chain.