Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to further talks to end his country's post-election crisis, buying himself time after a demand by African leaders that he step down or face removal by force.
Despite the move, a solution to the standoff in the world's biggest cocoa producer still appears remote, with the incumbent leader showing no signs of caving to mounting international pressure to cede power to rival Alassane Ouattara, who is widely believed to have won a November 28 presidential vote.
More than 170 people have been killed since the dispute started, rekindling divisions in the country that have festered since a 2002-03 civil war.
A senior aide said today that Mr Gbagbo had agreed to more talks and would ease a blockade on the Lagoon-side hotel where Mr Ouattara is trapped under the guard of UN peacekeepers. He said, however, that Mr Gbagbo would not step down.
"(Gbagbo's) victory is non-negotiable," Pascal Affi N'Guessan insisted. "That said, we can discuss anything with no conditions."
West African regional bloc Ecowas said in a press release earlier today that Mr Gbagbo had "agreed to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis without any preconditions."
Ecowas previously sent a delegation to tell Gbagbo to step down or face a possible military intervention.
Mr N'Guessan said Mr Gbagbo's forces would begin allowing traffic through military roadblocks set up around the Golf Hotel where Mr Ouattara has made its base, but UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that that had yet to take effect.
Mr Gbagbo's rivals have said they will refuse to negotiate unless he steps down.
Leaders from West African regional bloc Ecowas and the African Union met both Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara separately yesterday.
"Let me say without any equivocation that the military option is still on the card," Ecowas President James Victor Gbeho said on Tuesday after envoys briefed Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on the talks.
But "even if there is a half percent chance of resolving the problem peacefully they will exploit it," he said.
Earlier, Mr Ouattara's camp said talks had failed.
The visit by the four leaders follows a previous trip by Ecowas envoys last week.
"The next diplomatic shot might be after Ecowas has pre-positioned some heavy military muscle," said one diplomat.
Ecowas has previously sent troops into conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. However, in these cases they were invited by governments in place and West African nations will be wary of getting bogged down in fighting with Gbagbo's soldiers.
Ivory Coast missed a nearly $30 million interest payment on its $2.3 billion Eurobond due on Friday but it is not yet in default because of a 30-day grace period.
The crisis has not yet hurt Ivory Coast's main export, the world's largest cocoa crop, with deliveries matching last year's, although a return to war would be more disruptive.
Reuters