July 30 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo arrived in Bouake in the north of the country on Monday for the first time since civil war split Ivory Coast in two nearly five years ago.

Here is a chronology since that civil war.

Sept. 19, 2002 - Dissident soldiers attack main city of Abidjan to try to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo. Attempt fails but rebels seize north of country.

Jan. 25, 2003 - Seydou Diarra is appointed prime minister under a peace deal signed in France, after Gbagbo agrees to share power with rebels and political rivals.

May 3 - Rebels and army sign total ceasefire bringing an end to months of fighting in western regions. French and West African troops secure ceasefire line on May 24.

July 4 - Army and rebels declare war is over, with country split between rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

March 27, 2004 - Rebels and opposition RDR party pull out of government after crackdown on banned anti-Gbagbo march in which subsequent U.N. report says at least 120 people are killed.

July 30 - Warring parties sign a deal after talks in Ghana, setting out a timetable for reform and rebel disarmament.

Nov. 4-6 - Government planes bomb rebel stronghold of Bouake in bid to retake the north. Nine French peacekeepers are killed. In response France destroys large part of Ivory Coast government air force. This is followed by anti-French riots in Abidjan.

April 6, 2005 - Rebels and Gbagbo finally agree at peace talks in Pretoria to end the war.

June 2 - At least 100 people are killed in revenge attacks and a massacre around the western town of Duekoue.

Oct. 30 - Scheduled presidential polls are postponed. A U.N. resolution allows Gbagbo to remain in power another year, while a new prime minister is appointed.

Dec. 4 - Charles Konan Banny, governor of West Africa's central bank, is appointed interim prime minister in a move brokered by African Union mediators.

Dec. 16 - Constitutional authorities allow the parliament to continue working until elections, after its mandate expires.

Jan. 15, 2006 - Foreign mediators recommend parliament should not be reconvened. Gbagbo's supporters say the group has no right to make such a recommendation. Gbagbo supporters stage anti-U.N. protests in which 11 people are killed.

Nov. 1 - U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to shift power from the president to the prime minister. It extends transitional government for a second year, until Oct. 31, 2007.

March 4, 2007 - Gbagbo and Soro sign a peace deal brokered by Burkina Faso's president, Blaise Campaore.

March 26 - The government and rebels agree on Soro as prime minister under a plan to reunite the country. Gbagbo names a new government led by Soro on April 7.

April 16 - U.N. and French peacekeepers begin a staged pullback from the military buffer zone. Gbagbo says the dismantling of the zone underlines the war was over.

June 29 - Soro's plane is hit by a rocket on his arrival at the rebel stronghold at Bouake. Four people are killed.

July 16 - The U.N. Security Council votes to extend the mandate of a peacekeeping force until January to help create peaceful conditions for elections.

July 30 - Gbagbo arrives in the rebel headquarters at Bouake for the first time since the war. He meets Soro for a "Flame of Peace" ceremony to symbolically burn weapons.

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