Lome, Togo ? Ivory Coast rebels rejected a draft peace plan seeking to end a nearly 2-month-old uprising that has claimed hundreds of lives and were preparing a counterproposal, a spokesman said Thursday.

The setback comes after two weeks of talks meant to end peacefully a conflict that has split Ivory Coast, crippled the West African nation’s economy and raised fears of regional destabilization.

The draft peace accord was written by mediators and the Ivory Coast government, but rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate said Thursday it did not address key rebel demands.

“We read the proposals. They are not good for us,” Konate said after meeting Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who is host of the talks in his capital.

The rebels will continue negotiating, Konate said. They previously walked out of negotiations, accusing President Laurent Gbagbo’s government of killing opposition figures and civilians.

The head of the government’s negotiating team, Laurent Dona Fologo, said the government had already made major concessions by agreeing to push for an amnesty law for soldiers accused of plotting against the state, and allowing soldiers in exile to return.

Fologo called on the rebels “to act in good faith by making major compromises so that normal life and economic activity” can resume.

Peace talks have stalled over a rebel demand that President Gbagbo step down and clear the way for new elections in six months, and over Gbagbo’s insistence that rebels lay down their weapons.

Rebels, including 800 recently dismissed soldiers, launched a failed coup attempt Sept. 19.