By Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN, April 13 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has signed into law an amnesty for crimes against the state in the latest boost for a new peace deal to reunite the country after a 2002/2003 civil war. The law, published in the government daily Fraternite Matin on Friday, covers crimes committed by soldiers and civilians living in the country and abroad, but excludes war crimes and economic crimes in what was once a thriving African economy. The promulgation of the amnesty is another indication that a "home-grown" peace deal Gbagbo signed last month with northern rebels may succeed where internationally brokered accords have failed to reunite a country split in two for over four years. Since signing the deal on March 4, Gbagbo has made rebel leader Guillaume Soro prime minister in a government of national unity charged with organising elections within 10 months. All sides welcomed the amnesty. "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. The law, signed by Gbagbo on Thursday, foresaw compensation to be paid to all victims of the crimes it covers. "The modalities of compensation, reparations and rehabilitation will be fixed by law," it said. The text grants amnesty from prosecution for all crimes against the state dating back to Sept. 17, 2000, the day before a bloody attack on the home of then military ruler Robert Guei. Guei, a French-trained general, was killed in the early days of the civil war, which started with a failed coup in September 2002 by rebel soldiers. The amnesty opens the way for the return of many soldiers who deserted or fled abroad during years of political strife in Ivory Coast since Guei led the country's first coup in 1999. Rebel forces failed to topple Gbagbo in 2002 but captured the poorer northern half of the country, a division that became entrenched during months of fighting in which French and U.N. troops established a buffer zone between the warring parties. The buffer zone remained in place as a series of U.N.-backed accords to reunite the country foundered amid political bickering, but it is now due to be dismantled from April 16. From Monday, the international peacekeeping force of 7,000 U.N. troops and several thousand soldiers from former colonial power France is due to withdraw in stages from the buffer zone. It will gradually hand over control of a new "green line" between north and south to a joint force assembled from rebel and government soldiers.
