Ivory Coast's political rivals Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara have agreed on a face-fo-face meeting to try to resolve the country's political crisis, African Union envoy Raila Odinga said Tuesday.

"We have broken the ice. They (Gbagbo and Quattara) have agreed to meet face to face but under certain conditions," Odinga, Kenya's prime minister, said from Abuja.

Odinga spoke shortly before African mediators were to debrief Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's president and current leader of regional bloc ECOWAS, on their mission to the Ivory Coast the day before.

Odinga was part of a four-member African delegation that held talks with the rival leaders in Abidjan on Monday. "We had useful discussions with the parties in Ivory Coast. It was a useful beginning. More efforts have to be made to achieve peace in Ivory Coast," Odinga said.

Gbagbo, in power since 2000, has so far refused to concede that he lost the November 28 election to Ouattara, despite widespread international condemnation and the threat of force to oust him after UN-certified results showed Ouattara won.

Four leaders representing the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) met Gbagbo for several hours on Monday before meeting Ouattara in the lagoon-side hotel where he is holed up, guarded by UN peacekeepers.

It was the second visit by three west African heads of state -- Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires -- who met Gbagbo last week. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga joined them on Monday on the AU's behalf.

"We have had very, very important meetings ... At this stage we can only say the discussions are ongoing," Koroma said after the meetings ended on Monday.

"When discussions are ongoing, you don't expect anything to be concluded (yet)," he added as the group headed for the airport. No other details emerged from the talks.

ECOWAS has said it could use "legitimate force" if Gbagbo refuses to go quietly. Ouattara's rival government has said this is Gbagbo's last chance to leave peacefully and with immunity.

More than 170 people have been killed since the disputed election. The crisis threatens to restart fighting in a country still divided by a 2002-03 civil war.

Source: AFP/Reuters