DAKAR, Senegal, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Preparations for presidential elections in the Ivory Coast are progressing well, the U.N.'s deputy special envoy to the country announced in Senegal.
Envoy Abou Moussa told delegates in Senegal at the 19th meeting of the heads of U.N. peacekeeping missions that the country has made great strides in its preparation for presidential elections later this month.
The deputy special envoy said the country has compiled a final voters' list with more than 5.7 million names. Double distribution of identity cards and security arrangements for the election were among key challenges remaining, the envoy said in a statement.
The U.N.'s peacekeeping mission for the Ivory Coast, he said, would work to provide logistical assistance to the Ivorian government as it prepares for the late October vote.
Jean-Marie Kacou Gervais, the foreign affairs minister for the Ivory Coast, told delegates at the U.N. General Assembly this week that the human rights situation in his country had improved with the help of the international community.
The Ivory Coast was divided into the government-controlled south and rebel-held north in 2002. Civil war there has disrupted repeated efforts to have presidential elections.
The U.N. Security Council voted to place as many as 500 additional peacekeepers in the country in preparation for elections Oct. 31.
