Fresh protests against Ivory Coast's president erupted on Saturday following deadly clashes with security forces that raised tensions and delayed the announcement of a new government.
"The prime minister will present his government on Monday," a member of Guillaume Soro's entourage said, adding discussions aimed to include opposition members were continuing over the weekend.
Soro was expected to announce a new ministerial line-up by Saturday after President Laurent Gbagbo sacked the previous cabinet and dissolved the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) over alleged fraud in compiling a voters' roll.
But Gbagbo's actions triggered protests from opposition groups which turned deadly on Friday in the western town of Gagnoa.
Protests turn violent
At least five people were killed and nine more injured, said the country's military chief, General Philippe Mangou.
In fresh protests on Saturday the home of Malick Coulibaly, campaign director for Gbagbo, "was entirely burned down by militants of the RHDP," he told AFP, referring to the opposition Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace.
The headquarters of the presidential party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), was also set on fire in the northern city of Korhogo, a local official said.
After another day of violent protests, the FPI called on Soro to quickly install a new government in the face of an "insurrection" by the opposition.
In the ex-rebel New Forces (FN) stronghold of Bouake, about 1,000 protesters marched with calls to oust Gbagbo, and some were responsible for partly burning the prefecture and looting city hall, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.
An FN spokesman made an appeal for calm after Soro met later Saturday with the Bouake city leaders.
Neirghbours attempts to bring peace
Efforts to end the political standoff will receive help on Sunday from Burkino Faso's President Blaise Compaore, who oversees Ivorian peace pacts and will meet with two key opposition leaders - former Ivorian president Henri Konan Bedie and ex-prime minister Alassane Ouattara, the official close to Soro said.
"If the meeting produces something the opposition will join the government," he added. "If there are no results, the government will be announced anyway."
The opposition has demanded the reinstatement of the electoral commission and on Friday added calls for Gbagbo to resign as president.
Violent protests have taken place across Ivory Coast since Gbagbo's shock announcements on February 12, which came after investigators said they had found evidence of fraud in a voters' roll being compiled for the poll.
The current turmoil casts fresh doubt on the west African nation's ability to hold elections hoped for in March and already deferred six times.
The vote is designed to unify a nation split between the south and the FN-controlled north following a failed 2002 coup against Gbagbo, who has remained in power for 10 years, half without a new mandate.
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