YAOUNDE, Jan 18 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac is to hold
private
talks with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on the sidelines of the
Franco-African summit in the Cameroon capital Yaounde, French diplomats
told
AFP.
   The sources said the meeting, the first between the two since Gbagbo's
contested election victory in October, would take place on Thursday.
   France's Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine met with Gbabgo on Wednesday,
and
called for the "consolidation of the democratic process" in the Ivory
Coast,
the scene of hightened political tensions following the polls.
   But Vedrine said France regretted regretted that the polls were "limited
because of a judicial decision", referring to the exclusion of opposition
leader and former premier Alassane Ouattara.
   Ouattara was excluded from the polls over a ruling that questioned his
claim to Ivorian nationality.
   France's support for Gbagbo has been the subject of a government split,
with the Green party -- a member of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's
coalition
-- dubbing the October polls in Ivory Coast as a "masquerade" and sounding
alarm over Gbabgo's emphasis on Ivorian nationality.
   Jospin's Socialist Party has implicitly supported Gbagbo, a longtime
socialist opposition leader before becoming president.
   Chirac's party also demanded a repeat of the polls so that excluded
candidates could stand.
   Members of Chirac's delegation said the French president would also have
a
dinner meeting Thursday with Morocco's King Mohammed VI.
   The sources said Chirac was also lined up for private contacts with
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has brought Algeria into the
bi-annual summit for the first time.
   Chirac was also expected to meet Sengalese President Abdoulaye Wade,
Burundi's Pierre Buyoya and Namibia's Sam Nujoma.
   bur-sas/nb

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