YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The international community is called on to send election observers to the Ivory Coast for the country's Oct. 31 presidential vote, a U.N. official said.
Ongoing civil conflict thwarted several attempts to have presidential elections in the Ivory Coast, which was divided in 2002 between the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south.
The U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of 500 peacekeepers as the country gears up for another attempt at the end of the month.
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 enough to go ahead with the vote.
Y.J. Choi, the U.N special envoy to the Ivory Coast, said preparations were under way, though the international community needed to deploy observers to the country before the vote.
All election materials, he added, were scheduled for on-time delivery.
"All ballot papers have been transported to the interior of the country, as well as heavy electoral materials such as ballot boxes and polling booths," he was quoted by the U.N.'s news service as stating.
