Ivory Coast's rebel and army chiefs agreed on Saturday that fighters would start laying down their weapons from June 27, marking fresh progress in a revived peace process meant to end a civil war once and for all, Reuters reported. "The operations of DD (disarmament and demobilisation) will run from June 27 to Aug. 10, 2005," said a statement signed by both sides after talks in the capital Yamoussoukro and read out by national disarmament committee head Alain Richard Donwahi. Saturday's talks grew out of a peace deal signed last month in South Africa and designed to draw a line under a conflict which has split the world's top cocoa grower in two. "I am very satisfied ... I am hopeful for the future," army chief Philippe Mangou told reporters after the agreement. Rebel chief of staff Soumaila Bakayoko, who signed the accord for the rebel New Forces, declined to comment as he left the meeting but a member of his delegation voiced optimism. --more 2327 Local Time 2027 GMT
