Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Cote d'Ivoire

Le Patriote, a daily close to the opposition RDR party, carries a banner headline entitled: At long last Soro is to break his silence.

According to the paper, Soro is likely to respond to major questions, such as whether the New Forces would agree to engage in direct dialogue with Gbagbo.

Soro is to kill Gbagbos message, writes Le Nouveau Reveil, a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA party.

Linter (a privately-owned daily): With a picture of the Ivorian Prime Minister on the front-page, the paper told readers that Soro has unveiled his political agenda, in an interview granted to the French newspaper Jeune Afrique.

According to the paper, Soro said the New Forces, which was an armed movement, is now becoming a responsible and credible force capable to manage the states affairs.

Talking about the ongoing debate on whether there should be disarmament before the elections or not, Soro said that its unfair to say that the New Forces are unwilling to lay down their guns.

Im eager to see the elections to be completed in order to finally make known the ambitions that I have for my country, Soro is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the paper noted that Soro is controlling a part of the Ivorian territory, and he has an army.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said the managers of state-owned companies would also have their pay cut in half, to pay for a 10% cut in fuel prices.

Mr Soro said running costs and investments in government departments would also be cut to help cope with the extra expenditure.

Following a peace agreement in January 2003, Soro joined the government as communications minister in April 2003.

On 28 December 2005, Soro was appointed minister of reconstruction and reintegration in the government of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny; in this position he became the second ranking member of the government, after the prime minister.

In an interview published on March 26, Soro said that he would be willing to become prime minister.

Soro took office on 4 April, and his government was named on April 7, with 32 ministers (excluding Soro himself); this was slightly fewer than in Banny's government, and Soro's government contained many of the same ministers as its predecessor.

Soro was unhurt, although four others were said to have been killed and ten were said to have been wounded.

Soro said in a March 2008 interview with Jeune Afrique that he would discuss his future political plans following the election.

Soro meets Gbagbo, opposes multiple referendum", IRIN, January 13, 2004.

Loucoumane Coulibaly, "Soro is ready to be premier of Ivory Coast", Reuters (IOL), March 27, 2007.

The June 29, 2007 assassination attempt on Guillaume Soro took place at the Bouaké Airport in Côte d'Ivoire.

Guillaume Soro is the leader of the New Forces.

This was because of "the possible worsening of the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, after the rocket attack to which Guillaume Soro was subjected," according to a stock market analyst.

Very soon, in my position as prime minister, I will address everyone," Soro said by his side following discussions with Gbagbo at the presidential office.

His full name is Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, and when asked what the Kigbafori means, he produces a mischievous smile, and says it means invincible in his native language, Senoufou.

Once called terrorists, today Mr Soro has managed to sell to the world the euphemistic term - New Forces - to describe three heavily armed rebel movements in Ivory Coast.

Guillaume Soro was the eldest child, born to parents of modest means in the village of Diawala, in the far north of Ivory Coast, just a few kilometres from the Malian border.

As for his personal life, Mr Soro says he does not have one these days.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has called for an international investigation into the rocket attack against his plane, leaving four people dead and a dozen more injured.

Blaise Compaor, and Ivoirian rebel leader Guillaume Soro join hands on March 4 after signing a new peace agreement aimed at ending the civil war in Cte dIvoire.

Gbagbo remained president, and Soro was made the countrys prime minister.

fragile peace process, aides and other sources said.

unharmed and safe" but gave no details.

in company with a dozen magistrates and other officials.

At the end of March, Soro was named Prime Minister, and several days later, a new cabinet--consisting of most of the ministers from the previous cabinet--was named.

Soro is a former rebel leader of the Forces nouvelles, who seized the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire during a civil war from 2002 to 2003.

He added that Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was currently working on the question.

It was important that Soro accepted that we have direct dialogue.

Under the new peace accord brokered by neighbour Burkina Faso, Soro was appointed prime minister in a new unity government in April.

It was in Bouake on June 29 that a plane carrying Soro came under rocket attack as it was about to land.

There will never be any question for the (rebel) New Forces of accepting any extension of Laurent Gbagbo’s mandate,” rebel leader Guillaume Soro said at a press conference held in the rebel stronghold of Bouake.

three people though Soro survived, a top aide told AFP.

Soro said he would step down following presidential elections scheduled to take place before the end of the year and pledged he would not run in them.

Soro was named minister of reconstruction and reinsertion while his deputy, Louis Dakoury Tabley, was made minister of war victims.

Although there is scepticism about the genuine commitment to implement the agreement and also because all previous peace initiatives have failed, many still believe that the Ouagadougou agreement may actually be implemented-Guillaume Soro is now prime minister and President Gbagbo initiated the process and seems confident about his chances to be re-elected.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec 22 (UPI) -- Ivory Coast officials estimate it will take several months to disarm thousands of soldiers who fought in the country's 5-year-old civil war.

Earlier this year, shortly after Drogba was named the top player in Africa, Soro had signed a peace accord with Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president.

And although Soro was the country's new prime minister, he retained his title as secretary general of the rebellion.

Reports speculated that the attack was launched by factions within the rebellion who were unhappy that Soro had joined President Gbagbo's government.

We have to recognize that a lot of things have been done since Guillaume Soro was appointed Prime Minister in Ivory Coast.

Members of the New Forces movement view the damaged fuselage of Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro 's plane after it was hit by a rocket in Bouake, Ivory Coast.

The attack on Friday could set back Ivory Coast's nascent peace deal, under which Soro joined hands in government with his former enemy, President Laurent Gbagbo, who had controlled the south as Soro had controlled the north.