Cote d'Ivoire: Government communique says rebel disarmament to end 15 Sep Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1132 GMT 27 Jun 03 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE Friday, June 27, 2003 Journal Code: 2131 Language: ENGLISH Record Type: FULLTEXT Document Type: Daily Report; News Word Count: 257 ABIDJAN, June 27 (AFP) - Ivory Coast's rebels and government forces will be disarmed by September 15 in line with a French-brokered peace to end a civil war that erupted last year, a government communique said Friday. "The prime minister has indicated that the disarmament will be over by September 15 at the latest," the statement said, referring to Seydou Diarra, the prime minister appointed to lead a new unity government. A French-brokered peace pact signed in January stipulates the confinement and disarmament of the opposing forces which launched a civil war last September which has effectively split this west African nation in half. Fighting has lulled since the pact, following which the three rebel groups who rose up against President Laurent Gbagbo, joined the reconciliation government. The former rebel insurgents are now called the "new forces". The rival sides have identified sites for the confinement of their men, but the actual process has yet to begin and no start date has been set yet. A peacekeeping force dispatched by the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is monitoring a truce between the rebels and the Ivorian government alongside some 4,000 soldiers deployed by France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler.