Warring parties in Ivory Coast agreed a timetable on Saturday to disarm ready for Oct. 30 elections under a South African-brokered peace deal, officials said. Military officials of the southern-based government and rebels have been meeting since Thursday to work out the timetable for disarmament under a peace plan revived at talks in Pretoria in late June after numerous setbacks and delays, according to Reuters. Rebels have controlled the north of the world's top cocoa producer since an unsuccessful coup in 2002 sparked civil war, and a series of deadlines for disarmament have passed unobserved. "The two parties agreed ... a timetable," Alain Richard Donwahi, head of the national disarmament committee, told reporters. "The two chiefs of staff have therefore read, approved and adopted it." Donwahi gave no details of the timetable itself, and officials said it must first be communicated to senior figures on both sides. But he said it complied with a joint statement made by the two sides on June 29 after talks in Pretoria, which committed government militias to disarm by Aug. 20 -- a rebel pre-condition for disarmament -- as part of a programme to prepare for presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 30. --More 2259 Local Time 1959 GMT
