ABIDJAN, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo said on Sunday that he will stay on as head of state until an elected president is sworn in.

    "I will never allow the decapitation of the state of Cote d'Ivoire," Gbagbo said in a televised address to the nation, adding he was acting according to the national constitution.

A man runs past a burning barricade during an opposition demonstration in the Treichville popular district of Abidjan. Ivory Coast's security forces fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse demonstrators seeking to march to the residence of President Laurent Gbagbo. (AFP)

    However, the rebels rejected his claim and appointed their leader Guillaume Soro as the prime minister of a new transitional government that should be set up Monday.

    Gbagbo said the Constitutional Commission had agreed that the country was not ready to hold presidential elections and asked him to guarantee the continuity of the state.

    "The international community calls on us to complete the electoral process within 12 months at the latest. I hope those elections will take place before the 12 months (expire), and that is the mission I shall give to the prime minister we will appoint in a few days," said Gbagbo.

    The presidential elections scheduled for Sunday failed to take place.

    Gbagbo also pledged to implement the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and the African Union backing an extension of his mandate for one year and calling for the appointment of a new prime minister acceptable to all sides.

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo speaks during an address on national television Oct. 30. (Reuters)

    For their part, the rebels, in a statement issued Sunday night, rejected Gbagbo's claim and announced their leader, Soro, as the prime minister of a government of national reconciliation.

    The standoff between Gbagbo and the rebels has aroused fears of renewed violence in the former French colony.

    Cote d'Ivoire has been split since September 2002 after rebels launched a failed coup and seized the northern half. About 6,000 UN peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops are in the country to separate the rebel-controlled north and the government-controlled south.

    In 2003, France helped broker a ceasefire deal between the two sides. A government of national unity was formed with rebel heads and opposition party leaders taking ministerial posts. But neither side has been disarmed and mutual distrust has crippled the government. Enditem