Five African leaders mediating in the Ivory Coast crisis demanded an immediate end to killings and the lifting of a siege on internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara.
The presidents tasked by the African Union with finding a solution to the standoff in which two men claim to be president also urged a halt to demonstrations that could "degenerate" into violence, they said after talks in the Mauritanian capital.
They called on forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo to lift the blockade on the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where Ouattara is holed up. Gbagbo has refused to acknowledge defeat in the November 28 election.
"The group calls for the immediate halt to the killing and the abuses leading to loss of human life, and demonstrations, popular marches and other activities likely to degenerate into trouble and violence," said a statement.
They called on all sides to end "all form of hostility" and for Gbabgo's forces to lift their blockade on the Golf Hotel.
The statement came after a six-hour meeting between presidents Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, Jacob Zuma from South Africa, Idriss Deby Itno from Chad, Blaise Compaore from Burkina Faso and Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete.
The leaders would gather again at a time and place to be announced in a meeting to which both Alassane and Gbagbo would be invited, the statement added.
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