Ouattara: Barred from presidential and parliamentary polls

But Interior Minister Emile Doudou said it would be wrong to postpone the election because just one party wanted this to happen.

He added that the violence and killings of the past week had only affected a small proportion of voters' constituencies.

Most of the political parties, he said, therefore wanted the elections to take place as planned and that was what would happen.

BBC West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle says the government's decision is bound to be highly controversial, since it goes against the recommendations of the neutral mediation committee - and it appears likely to infuriate many northerners.

However, the government appears to have calculated, perhaps correctly, that the majority of Ivorians from the south will support them and take part in the elections.

Unrest

Earlier on Satuday police and soldiers used tear gas to disperse RDR supporters who were burning tyres and building barricades in the northern city of Korhogo.

Police are said to be rounding up northerners

Mr Ouattara's supporters in his power base in the north of the country have chased out government representatives, burnt down their offices, and hoisted the flag of Ivory Coast's neighbour, Burkino Faso, in protest at the Supreme Court decision.

The country has been under a state of emergency since dozens of people were killed in clashes between security forces and RDR supporters on Monday and Tuesday.

RDR officials have been in negotiations with the government to find a solution to the crisis, but the recent troubles have led the government to charge that the party is trying to take power by force.

The latest wave of violence follows bloody clashes in October between President Laurent Gbagbo's supporters and those of Mr Ouattara, who was barred from standing in a presidential poll then as well.

President Gbagbo, who comes from the largely Christian south and heads the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), was the only significant contestant for the presidency against then military ruler General Robert Guei.

The RDR says Mr Ouattara, who is in France, must be allowed to contest Sunday's parliamentary elections or it will boycott and disrupt the poll.