The African Union and the United Nations are expected to implement a number of agreements reached about the political situation in Cote d'Ivoire, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

Mbeki made the statement in Pretoria after bilateral talks with Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa.

He said: "At the end of August the defense minister (Mosioua Lekota) went to the UN and outlined a number of agreements which need to be implemented" in Cote d'Ivoire.

South Africa was mandated by the AU last November to act as mediator in Cote d'Ivoire 's three-year long conflict.

South African defense minister had recommended the UN implement the disarmament and dismantling of the Cote d'Ivoire military, the disarmament of official and unofficial armed forces including rebels and the preparation of elections due to take place on October 30, Mbeki said.

"These are not mediation matters, they are implementation matters. We are quite certain that the security council will take the necessary steps," he added.

Mbeki said the AU's Peace and Security Council had also been presented with the recommendations and was expected to act on them.

He said: "The AU feels that ECOWAS (the economic grouping of west African states) should meet and look into the situation and if they have proposals, submit them to the Peace and Security Council before it and UN see what steps they can take."

Rebel group Forces Nouvelle have said mediation efforts by South Africa had failed and demanded President Laurent Gbagbo step down and play no part in the political transition.

Cote d'Ivoire, which is the world's top cocoa producer, has been split in two since a failed coup against Gbagbo in September 2002, pitting rebels from the Muslim-dominated north against the Christian-populated south.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2005)