YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The first batch of 500 peacekeepers arrived to support a U.N. mission in the Ivory Coast as voter cards go out to rebel and government areas, an official said.
Hamadoun Toure, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Ivory Coast said the additional troops would help the 8,650 soldiers with security during preparation for elections at the end of October.
"These Blue Helmets are among the 500 additional personnel that are to beef up UNOCI's strength, in accordance with the Security Council's decision," he was quoted by the U.N.'s news agency as saying.
U.N. workers deployed across the country to deliver voter and identification cards to the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.
The U.N. Security Council voted to place as many as 500 additional peacekeepers in the country in preparation for elections Oct. 31.
Jean-Marie Kacou Gervais, the foreign affairs minister for the Ivory Coast, told delegates at the U.N. General Assembly in September that the human rights situation in his country had improved with the help of the international community.
Gervais said his country was moving forward with the determination to have free and transparent elections to show the international community his country has embraced peace.
Civil war disrupted repeated attempts to have presidential elections in the country, which was divided in 2002 between the government-controlled south and rebel forces in the north.
