African mediators named Charles Konan Banny, the governor of the Central Bank of West African States, as Ivory Coast?s interim prime minister on Sunday, a step meant to break a deadlock in the country?s peace process. ?The PM for the transition period, which is planned to end in October 2006, is Mr. Charles Konan Banny,? Nigerian President Obasanjo and South Africa?s Mbeki said in a joint statement in Abidjan. Banny, a political outsider, had been tipped as a leading candidate for the job. Analysts like the Senegal-based banker?s distance from local politics and his economic know-how.

Ivory Coast?s warring factions were supposed to agree on a new prime minister to guide the country towards presidential elections by next October as part of an African Union peace plan endorsed by the UN Security Council. The world?s top cocoa grower has been split in two since rebels seized its north after failing in a bid to oust President Laurent Gbagbo three years ago. A series of UN-backed peace agreements have so far failed to reunite the West African country. Obasanjo, who chairs the African Union, and Mbeki met with Gbagbo on Sunday after weeks of haggling over the prime minister?s post between the government, opposition and rebels.