ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Rebels in the Ivory Coast said on Monday they will return to the government of national reconciliation, three months after they walked out in protest.
The rebels agreement to return to the government comes three months after they walked out in protest at President Laurent Gbagbo's failure to fully implement a peace agreement signed in January.
"We have decided to come back," Amadou Kone, the director of the office of rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told the U.N.'s Integrated Regional Information Networks by telephone from the rebel capital Bouake.
The decision to send eight rebel ministers back to the 41-strong cabinet led by Prime Minister Seydou Diarra was endorsed by Master Sgt. Ibrahim Coulibaly, a veteran coup plotter who some fighters would like to see take over the leadership of the rebel movement.
Kone said the rebels, who are officially known as "The New Forces," planned to resume their seats in government sometime between Christmas and the New Year.
