The rebel ministers refused to meet a UN special envoy to discuss their withdrawal from the national reconciliation government, in protest of President Gbagbo's refusal to give the coalition body adequate powers. However, one of nine rebel ministers in the coalition government disobeyed the movement's orders and turned up for a cabinet meeting anyway. 

ECOWAS is taking the MPCI move seriously and asked the rebel ministers to return to the seat of government and continue the disarmament dialogue. In London, cocoa market reacted with a 5.5 percent price surge but analysts don't think supplies will be seriously curtailed in the near future. In late 2002, the civil war sent cocoa prices to 17-year highs with market fears about the impact of the fighting on world supply. - Adam Geibel