The main rebel group fighting in Ivory Coast says it is keen to see the details of a plan announced by President Laurent Gbagbo to end the civil conflict.

The president has sent the 10-point plan to the mediator of the peace talks.

We are still on the path of negotiation, not on the path of war Konate Sidiki rebel spokesman

"We will see if these proposals are realistic or not," said Konate Sidiki, a spokesman for the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI), which controls the northern half of the country.

But the BBC's correspondent in the country, Paul Welsh, says that the draft copy of the plan addresses few of the rebels' core demands.

Mr Sidiki, speaking from the MPCI stronghold of Bouake, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of the main city of Abidjan, said his group was "still on the path of negotiation, not on the path of war".

The MPCI has been opposed to President Gbagbo since fighting erupted in September, but is currently observing a truce.

Two rival rebel factions based in the west have already said they want a ceasefire and have toned down their rhetoric against the military presence of France, the former colonial power, in Ivory Coast.

The conflict has left hundreds dead and thousands homeless in this religiously and ethnically divided country.

Obstacles

The rebels, our correspondent reports, want a change to the controversial system of deciding who is an Ivorian, which decides who can stand in elections or vote.

France is seen by the rebels as a government ally

The president is suggesting a referendum which would decide who can stand for president, who can vote and who can own land.

But only those who are already Ivorians under the present system could vote in that referendum - and that rules out most of the president's opponents.

There are two major sticking-points in the peace plan as far as the rebels are concerned:

• the rebels' call for early elections is not included
• the plan calls for rebels to disarm to unnamed foreign forces and allows a role for French troops in restoring order.

On offer

What the draft presidential plan does address includes:

• A new law against racism
• The rebuilding of immigrant workers' homes in shanty towns destroyed by the government
• A complaints department in every government ministry.

Another proposal is for a new government of national unity.

The last government of unity fell apart when opposition groups pulled out, angry at the way the crisis was being handled and at human rights abuses.

The rebels will find little in this document to excite or placate them, our correspondent says, but there is some hope in the fact that the president has made any kind of offer at all.