African Union (AU) Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, also the president of Nigeria, has invited at least nine African leaders to a meeting on the latest crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, his spokeswoman said Thursday.

Remi Oyo told Xinhua by telephone that the meeting would be held Sunday in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to decide on action aimed at resolving the fresh outbreaks of violence in Cote d'Ivoire that had killed at least 64 people in the past week, as thegovernment, rebels and French peacekeepers clashed, shattering an 18-month-old ceasefire.

The leaders invited included the presidents of Burkina Faso, Gabon, Senegal and Mali, and Ghana's John Kufuor, who is also chairman of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, Oyo said.

The Nigerian president also sent an invitation to South African President Thabo Mbeki and Cote d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbagbo, she added.

Mbeki, on behalf of the AU, paid a one-day visit to Cote d'Ivoire Tuesday and said he was "pleased" by his counterpart Gbagbo's commitment to restoring peace while wrapping up his mission in the strife-torn west African country.

The AU and the ECOWAS have urged the warring sides in Cote d'Ivoire to "immediately halt all hostilities."

After a meeting with regional officials, including AU Commission Chairman Konare, at the weekend, Obasanjo expressed hisdeep concern at the renewed fighting, particularly air bombardment by the government forces on various locations in rebel-controlled northern Cote d'Ivoire.

The resumption of armed hostilities last week "clearly contradicts the process of national reconciliation as expressed" in two agreements signed last year and this year separately, the AU and ECOWAS said in a statement.

A former French colony, Cote d'Ivoire was divided into the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south after a failed coup two years ago. Around 10,000 UN peacekeepers including 4,000 French troops formed a buffer zone between them.

Source: Xinhua