(Recasts with Soro address) By Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN, April 13 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's new prime minister, Guillaume Soro, urged the war-divided West African country on Friday to unite and embrace a peace plan leading to democratic elections. Soro, a former rebel leader in the 2002/2003 civil war which split the world's No. 1 cocoa producer into two, made the appeal in his first televised address to the nation since his appointment as premier last month by President Laurent Gbagbo. The appointment sealed a March 4 home-grown peace deal between the two former foes which aims to finally achieve the reunification, disarmament and elections that a series of internationally-brokered accords have failed to produce. "After numerous attempts, Ivory Coast is today poised to move to lasting peace," Soro, who is 34, said in a broadcast that emphasised national reconciliation. "We must stick back together the two sides of Ivory Coast," he added, referring to the rebel-held north and government-controlled south, separated since 2003 by a buffer zone patrolled by United Nations and French peacekeepers. The March 4 peace plan, mediated at Gbagbo's request by neighbouring Burkina Faso, foresaw elections within 10 months and Soro said this would be a priority, along with completing a national identity scheme and disarming opposing militias. "Disarmament will show the whole world our common determination to turn the dark page of our crisis," he said. Mass immigration to once prosperous Ivory Coast since its 1960 independence from France exacerbated ethnic tensions which were at the heart of the divisive civil war. "We must learn to forgive one another ... We've squared off, insulted and fought each other without success. So let's take a new direction," the premier said. He spoke a day after President Gbagbo signed into law an amnesty for crimes against the state in another boost to peace. PLEDGE TO REBUILD On Monday, U.N. and French peacekeeping troops, who together number more than 10,000 in the country, will start pulling back from positions in the buffer zone as part of its gradual dismantling under the peace plan. They will be progressively replaced by joint brigades of government and rebel soldiers. The amnesty law covered crimes committed by soldiers and civilians living in the country and abroad, but excluded war crimes and economic crimes in what was once a thriving African economy that has slipped in the continent's rankings. In his address, Soro pledged to rebuild the country's infrastructure and social services, paying special attention to education and health. "My government will need the support of its traditional partners, the European Union, France, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund," Soro said. "Ivory Coast will fully assume its obligations towards the international financial community," he added. Political leaders welcomed the amnesty law. "Everything which can be done to bring peace to Ivory Coast, and above all for the honour of those who have been convicted without real proof, is a good thing. It is a return to normality," said Alassane Salif N'Diaye, secretary general of the opposition l'UDPCI party.
