ABIDJAN, Dec 3: South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday started a four-day African Union-sponsored visit to Ivory Coast, where he will present a "roadmap to peace" for the west African country , riven by more than two years of conflict and political crisis.

The South African statesman arrived in the southern city of Abidjan late Thursday and immediately went into talks with his Ivorian counterpart President Laurent Gbagbo.

On Friday he held talks with key players in the stalled process to restore peace and stability in Ivory Coast, and was on Sunday due to travel to Bouake, the central headquarters of rebels whose uprising in September 2002 sparked the ongoing crisis.

"He (Mbeki) is meeting all the political role-players to present them with a plan, a roadmap to peace," said Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo on Friday. Seen as a neutral figure in the peace process, Mbeki met Prime Minister Seydou Diarra on Friday morning for more than an hour at an Abidjan hotel, before later meeting Gbagbo at the presidential residence in the coastal city's central business district.

At Gbagbo's residence, decked out for the occasion with Ivorian and South African flags, Mbeki was welcomed with a military band and guard of honour, before going into talks with the Ivorian leader.

Mbeki was expected later Friday to to meet members of the cabinet, representatives of the ruling Ivorian Popular Front and smaller parties, and the opposition alliance known as the G7.

Asked what Mbeki's proposed package entailed, Khumalo said: "We cannot make those details available yet in the media before it has been presented to the various role-players."

Neither Mbeki nor Gbagbo made a statement following their meeting. But Khumalo later said: "We expect that the details will be unveiled later during the president's visit."

The talks are believed to be revolving around the issues of disarmament of fighters in Ivory Coast, the reunification of the country - split into the rebel north and pro-Gbagbo south since the 2002 uprising - and constitutional reforms.

Mbeki visited the country early last month as part of an African Union mission aimed at restoring calm to Ivory Coast after government air raids on rebel-held cities in the north marked a sharp escalation in the conflict that has refused to be snuffed out, despite a peace pact signed in January 2003.

The last of the air strikes hit a camp housing French peacekeepers in Bouake, killing nine of them and a US aid worker. France retaliated swiftly, wiping out the Ivorian air force and sparking riots targeting French and other expatriates, many of whom have fled Ivory Coast.

African leaders fear that the unrest in Ivory Coast, the world's leading producer of cocoa and once the economic powerhouse of west Africa, could spill across its borders and destabilize the volatile region.

Since his previous visit on November 9, Mbeki has met various groups and individuals from Ivory Coast, including Simone Gbagbo, the highly influential wife of the president and one of the leaders of the Ivorian Popular Front.

He also met opposition leader-in-exile Alassane Ouattara, New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro and Diarra in his efforts to try to get the peace pact back on track.

Khumalo said Mbeki was accompanied by representatives from the AU's Peace and Security Council, the European Union Commission, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the World Bank.

The mediation effort takes Mbeki back to the diplomatic challenge that he faced during his time as the first AU chairman in 2002 - when the northern Ivorian rebels tried to stage a coup against Gbagbo, accusing him and his government of disenfranchising the north. -AFP