ABIDJAN, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The President of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, has appealed to his supporters to end the street violence which has brought chaos to Abidjan and return to their jobs.

    In a statement made late Wednesday, the president called on the people "to pull back from the streets and to go back home," and asked workers to "go back to work tomorrow."

    Gbagbo's statement came after he had met with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and top UN officials in a bid to end three days of violent protests targeting UN peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire. The country is still split between government- and rebel-held zones despite peace deals to end the 2002-2003 civil war.

    Earlier on Wednesday, UN peacekeepers and armed attackers clashed as the supporters of Gbagbo launched another attack on the UN base in Abidjan, southern Cote d'Ivoire. Four of the attackers were killed in the conflict.

    About 2,000 to 3,000 nationalist Young Patriots made two attempts to break into the UN premises in the commercial capital. They were driven off by tear gas and warning shots fired in the air, in a similar manner to the previous day.

    In the west, a border region notorious for unrest, Bangladeshi UN troops exchanged fire with youths who attacked military camps at the government-held town of Guiglo.

    The unrest first erupted on Monday after a UN-mandated working group recommended that parliament's expired mandate not be renewed.

    The parliament, filled with Gbagbo's supporters, is viewed as the president's last bastion of power. The decision angered youth activists and the president's backers who sent their followers into streets.

    The UN-mandated working group had been set up to oversee the implementation of the UN resolution passed last October, which extended Gbagbo's expired term in office for a year.

    The emergency solution thrashed out with Obasanjo will be communicated to the international working group, which is monitoring the peace process of Cote d'Ivoire.

    After the meeting, Obasanjo stressed that the UN-mandated working group "has no power to dissolve the national assembly, has no intention to dissolve, and has no mandate from anywhere to do so and did not do so."

    But he added: "By the constitution of your country the mandate of the national assembly has come to the end on the 16th December 2005." Enditem