Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African President, Thabo Mbeki, are to co-chair a forum for national dialogue on the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, according to a statement issued here on Friday.

The statement, issued by the Nigerian Presidency, said the dialogue was "aimed at resolving the long-running crisis" in the West African country.

The decision to convene the forum, which would be attended by the country's political groups, civil society, traditional rulers and the private sector, was taken at a meeting of the African Union's peace and security council in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

A communique issued after the meeting of council said the meeting also decided to send a high-level delegation, comprising Obasanjo and Mbeki to meet with Cote d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo and other political groups on the implementation of decisions.

The communique also endorsed the observation of the ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on the end of the mandate of President Gbagbo on Oct. 30, and the impossibility acknowledged by all Ivorian political parties in organizing presidential elections on the scheduled date.

"The council decided that the arrangements agreed upon in the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement shall continue from Oct. 31, for a period not exceeding 12 months and that Gbagbo shall remain Head of State during the period," the statement said.

It also quoted the communique as saying that a new prime minister acceptable to all shall be appointed and the government he would lead should be composed of personalities proposed by the Ivorian parties who were signatories to the Linas-Marcoussis agreement.

Source: Xinhua