Rebels announced that they were suspending participation in Ivory Coast's power-sharing government, accusing the government Monday of violating an agreement ending nine months of civil war.

Rebels complained that President Laurent Gbagbo had yet to approve candidates for the defense and interior ministries, key posts in the power-sharing government.

As a result, rebels said, they were suspending their disarmament, cutting corridors between rebel- and government-held areas, and retreating to their northern stronghold of Bouake.

It was unclear how serious - or lasting - a break it signaled between warring sides. Rebels said they would resume compliance with the peace accord once the two posts were filled.

Former rebel Guillaume Soro, who became communications minister under the power-sharing government, also complained Monday that government stalwarts were refusing to work with rebel appointees.

Monday's rebel announcements came the same day UN Security Council ambassadors arrived in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial capital, to assess progress in ending the civil war.

Ivory Coast's conflict broke out Sept. 19 with a coup attempt against Gbagbo, whom rebels accused of fanning ethnic hatreds.

Rebels quickly seized the northern half of the country, the world's largest cocoa producer.

A French-brokered peace deal helped end fighting.

Despite the cease-fire and the unity government, which includes members from the rebellion, opposition parties and Gbagbo's party, Ivory Coast is still divided along a cease-fire line that separates the rebel north from the loyalist south.

The government says the conflict killed more than 3,000 people and drove another one million from their homes.

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