ABIDJAN, Dec. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki Saturday called on Ivorian lawmakers to pass a constitutional change so that the country could regain its stability and prosperity.

    "We need to deal with election issues such as the question of nationality and voter identification," Mbeki told the Ivorian parliament.

    The South African statesman, who arrived here late Thursday in a peace mission mandated by the African Union, was referring to Article 35 of the present Ivorian constitution, which prevents opposition leader Alassane Ouattara from running for presidential elections scheduled for October 2005.

    The constitutional change is a key demand of rebels who hold the north of the country. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to send this proposal to parliament at the request of Mbeki,but insisted the proposed amendment also needs approval in a referendum which cannot take place until the rebels have disarmed and their area is back under government control.

    "I was very pleased indeed that President Gbagbo thought it wasimportant to send the constitutional amendment to his parliament,"Mbeki said. It was his second visit to the world's top cocoa grower since violence flared last month.

    The north is former prime minister Ouattara's power base. Gbagbo's camp says Ouattara cannot stand for president under the current constitution as his father was not of Ivorian origin and he once held the nationality of neighboring Burkina Faso.

    The constitution states a candidate must be born of two Ivorianparents and never have held the nationality of another country.

    Mbeki urged parliament to pass quickly other reforms and set upconstitutional framework to help the country get out of the crisis.

    He stressed the need to complete legislative processes as a precondition for holding next year's elections, warning that if elections cannot be held as planned, there will appear a constitutional crisis, which is not allowed.

    "The task that we face is difficult, not impossible, but certainly critically important for the future of our continent," Mbeki said.

    "It is clear that a prosperous, a thriving, a developing Cote d'Ivoire is of critical importance to a prosperous, thriving, developing region of West Africa," he added.

    Speaking after Mbeki's address, Mamadou Koulibaly, the speaker of the Ivorian parliament, said the revised Article 35 will come up for debate as early as the beginning of January.

    Mbeki is to travel to the rebel stronghold of Bouake on Sunday to meet rebel leaders and was expected to fly back to South Africalater that evening.

    Cote d'Ivoire has been divided into two warring camps since September 2002 when rebels took control of the mostly Muslim northof the country after a failed coup against Gbagbo.

    Conflicts flared up early this month after nine French peacekeepers and one American relief worker were killed on Nov. 6 in a bombardment of rebel-held positions by Ivorian warplanes.

    France retaliated by destroying the country's tiny air force.

    The reprisal led to turmoil and violence against French targetsin the Ivorian capital of Abidjan prompting some 7,200 French and more than one thousand Europeans to flee the country. Enditem