Gbagbo met at 1100 (local and GMT) for an hour with general Philippe Manguou in the main city Abidjan to "assess the current situation, the source said.

It was the first meeting between the two men since former army leader General Mathias Doue, who was sacked in November 2004, vowed to remove the president Gbagbo, in an interview on Friday with Radio France International.

According to an unauthenticated open letter published on the Internet, Doue said he would return to the Ivory Coast "in several days."

General Doue's call to overthrow the president has worsened the already tense political situation in the country's main city, Abidjan, where a display of fireworks accompanied by brief bursts of automatic gunfire Saturday night sparked a panic with officials rushing to reassure residents that an attack on the city was not under way.

Under a timetable approved by the government and the rebels holding the north of the country since a failed attempt to topple Gbagbo in 2002, both sides were to have disarmed by August 20 as part of a peace process aimed at ending three years of conflict.

The leader of the New Forces rebel group Guillaume Soro said Saturday he had held "fruitful" discussions with Mbeki, easing a crisis of confidence over the South African leader's role as mediator in the conflict.

The rebels had recently criticized Mbeki for backing controversial decrees issued by Gbagbo last month including some related to the upcoming election process and identification of voters.

Mbeki had said the decrees were in accordance with the Pretoria peace agreement he had hammered out in June with all factions in Ivory Coast.

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