The African Union (AU) expressed deep concern late Friday over the news earlier in the day about the resumption of hostilities in Bouake, northern Ivory Coast. The chairman of the AU Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, has called on both sides in the conflict to exercise maximum restraint. "He urges them to abandon any recourse to the military option and recommit themselves to the process of implementation of the Accra III Agreement," the AU disclosed in a statement. The statement said the AU chief was in close touch over the issue with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the current AU chairman, "on how best the African Union, working together with the countries of the region, could help defuse the present crisis". --SP 0117 Local Time 2217 GMT
