Cote d'Ivoire: Patchy progress in pre-poll unity talks

Ivory Coast held ceremonies to mark northern rebels officially returning local tax collecting and administrative powers to the central government on Thursday but true reunification and post-war polls remain elusive. Thursday's deadline was the latest test of a troubled process aimed at reuniting the world's top cocoa grower, which was once the region's most stable country but has endured years of crisis since it was divided by a 2002-2003 war.