* Ivory Coast rebel says mission accomplished
* Identity was at the heart of the top cocoa grower's war
* New Forces rebels will "go into politics", Konate says
By Tim Cocks and Loucoumane Coulibaly
MAN, Ivory Coast, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Identity cards being issued to voters in Ivory Coast ahead of an Oct. 31 election end once and for all the dispute which split the West African nation in two, a top rebel leader told Reuters on Thursday.
A 2002-3 rebellion against President Laurent Gbagbo divided the world's top cocoa grower into a government-run south and a rebel-run north, plunging it into economic decline despite a 2007 power-sharing deal that saw rebels enter government.
The conflict was largely driven by a row over who can claim Ivorian citizenship in a wet, fertile country that has for decades attracted peasant migrants from across West Africa.
"With these identity cards, the crisis of identity and ethnic tensions linked to it are definitively resolved," said Sidike Konate, deputy political leader of the New Forces rebels and tourism minister in the power-sharing government.
"This war is finished," Konate said in an interview from his home in the western town of Man, surrounded by misty mountains cloaked in rainforest.
Konate is second only in the rebel hierarchy to Mamadou Kone. His comments are the clearest yet from the rebel side that they view the roots of the conflict as settled.
The electoral commission started handing out electoral and identity cards to voters last week, ahead of a presidential contest meant to resolve the conflict and reunite the country.
Reforms to the cocoa sector, which supplies 40 percent of world demand but is in decline due to neglect, hinge on them.
The vote pitting Gbagbo against main opposition challengers Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara, has been put off since 2005 due to wrangling over voter eligibility and rebel disarmament, both of which issues have seen breakthroughs.
"WE HAVE OUR IDENTITY"
The identity dispute flared in the late 1980s, stoked by populist politicians discriminating between nationals and "foreigners" -- in some cases just northern Ivorians with foreign-sounding names, ultimately triggering the rebellion.
"We had a date with history: our first challenge was to solve the problem of identity," Konate said. "We were a group of guys who used the means available, but the end result is that we have our identity cards."
Ouattara, a northerner, was himself barred from running in a past poll because of claims by then President Bedie that at least one of his parents was from Burkina Faso. He has always rejected attempts to associate him with the rebellion.
Analysts note the race is likely to be close and disputes could easily flare into violence. Besides rebels, the west is also teeming with armed pro-Gbagbo militiamen.
Konate said the rebels would not back any candidate and joint state and rebel security forces were ready for trouble.
Disputes over land ownership, particularly in the west, still fester and Konate said the incoming government would have to make that a priority after reunification.
The New Forces, led by interim Prime Minister Guillaume Soro until he quit them in July, have said little about what will become of them after the polls.
Rebel commanders have amassed huge fortunes from commodity smuggling and racketeering fiefdoms, but have said they will retire once power returns to the newly elected government.
However Konate had a different view.
"We will enter a period of reflection, but I can assure you we won't disappear," Konate said. "We will go into politics." (Editing by Myra MacDonald)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
