Tens of thousands of people have marched through Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, in support of President Laurent Gbagbo.

Demonstrators - some draped in the national flag, some with white paint on their faces - chanted "We want Gbagbo", as they converged on a central square to hear speeches from youth leaders.

The two sides have agreed an amnesty

The march comes a day after the government declared an amnesty for rebels and said it wanted to reintegrate army mutineers back into the armed forces.

The amnesty announcement was made following three days of talks in Togo aimed at reaching a peace deal after fighting, sparked by a failed coup in September that split Ivory Coast in two.

Prisoner release

Negotiators took a break from talks on Saturday to allow the rebels' political representative, Guillaume Soro, to return to Ivory Coast to inform his group about the meetings.

A spokesman for the Togolese president, who is brokering the negotiations, said they would resume on Monday.

Togolese officials say the Ivorian Government had agreed to draft the amnesty bill as part of a wider deal designed to address rebel demands for changes in the armed services.

Both sides have also agreed to allow humanitarian aid to reach rebel-held regions and to grant "the immediate release of all civilian and military prisoners of war", according to a statement signed by both parties.

Key demands

As part of the draft agreement, soldiers living in exile will be allowed to return home.

The rebels want President Gbagbo to step down

The two sides have already said they will halt executions and refrain from using mercenaries or child soldiers.

But the announcement of the amnesty, late on Friday, made no mention of rebel demands for President Gbagbo to resign and call elections.

Nor did it address rebel disarmament, a chief demand of the government.

The conflict has left hundreds dead and intensified ethnic tension between the country's mostly Muslim north - now controlled by rebels - and largely Christian south.

Thousands of people have been driven from their homes during the crisis.

The negotiations in Togo have been organised by the West African regional body, Ecowas, and follow a truce in the fighting, which has held for two weeks.

Troops from the former colonial power, France, have been acting as a buffer between the two sides.

About 2,000 soldiers from eight West African countries are scheduled to arrive for peacekeeping duties within the next two weeks.