(19 Dec 2002)
ALL TOKO MATERIAL
1. Runway at Dakar International Airport
2. Ivory Coast President's plane taxiing
3. Wide of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade walking out to welcome Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo
4. Various of Gbagbo getting off plane and being welcomed by Wade and other officials
5. Gbagbo gets into a car and leaves
6. Ivory coast residents, living in Dakar, welcome the president's motorcade
7. Wide shot of meeting room
8. Mid shot of Wade and Gbagbo together
9. Mid of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore
10. SOUNDBITE: (French) Cheick Tidiani Gadio, Senegalese Foreign Minister:
"Therefore the summit has fixed the date of the 31st of December 2002 for the deployment of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) troops."
11. SOUNDBITE: (French) Abdoulaye Wade, Senegalese President:
"There is no incompatibility between the mission of the ECOWAS troops and the French presence on the ground."
12. Presidents end presse
STORYLINE:
Rebels in Ivory Coast attacked a western, government-held town, on Wednesday as West African leaders decided to send a 1,500-strong regional peace force to a war that has already drawn in more than 1,000 French troops.
Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, on Wednesday West African leaders committed to a December 31 deployment of the peace force, and picked Senegalese and Nigerian military and political commanders to lead it.
West African forces are to work alongside a French deployment growing to 2,500 troops in the former French colony, striving to enforce a repeatedly violated October 17 cease-fire in the three-month-old war.
On Wednesday, a few days' lull in fighting ended when rebels launched what an Ivory Coast military official said was a three-pronged attack on the city of Man. Fighting persisted late into Wednesday near Man's airport, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Western military officials confirmed the attack, and said rebels had been driven back. Residents said shooting could still be heard late in the day.
The attack came as regional leaders met in nearby Senegal to seek a peaceful way out of a conflict that has killed hundreds, sent tens of thousands fleeing and crippled the economy in what was once one of West Africa's most stable and prosperous nations.
After launching a failed coup attempt in September, rebels seized the northern half of the country. New rebel factions have since emerged in the West, and officials say Liberian fighters are also operating there.
France has said it will beef up its forces to 2,500 in Ivory Coast, and has armed the crack troops with a tougher mandate - including orders to shoot if obstructed, attacked or if they see abuses being committed.
In Dakar, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade presided over the summit with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and leaders or top officials of 10 other West African countries in what organisers called a last-ditch push to resolve the crisis.
Talks ended with the leaders' setting the imminent deployment of the West African force, which has been discussed for weeks. West African peacekeeping forces initially had been slated to take over from the French in enforcing a cease-fire.
However, Wade indicated on Wednesday that the French troops would now stay on after deployment of the West African force, saying: "Our two missions are not incompatible."
A summit statement after the talks said Gbagbo had taken note of grievances presented by Ivory Coast's rebels, and would present his own peace plan by Friday.
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