The United Nations envoy in Côte d’Ivoire has urged a new impetus for the country’s electoral process and reunification efforts to overcome the ongoing political impasse and make progress towards the holding of the long-delayed presidential polls. The objective in the immediate future is to concentrate on the production of the definitive electoral list, Y. J. Choi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said in Abidjan on Wednesday following a meeting with the head of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire, Henri Konan Bédié.

An additional police unit and more troops should be added to the UN Office in Côte d’Ivoire’s peacekeeping presence of 8,500 troops, to keep the peace in the west, say the International Crisis Group (ICG) and aid officials. There is broad support for the call among aid workers IRIN spoke to, and the general public.

This latest report from the International Crisis Group, warns of the risks involved after President Laurent Gbagbo recently dissolved the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) and the government. Preparations are now at a virtual standstill, and the process of identifying who is eligible to vote carries serious risks of violence.

The United Nations mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) is closely monitoring efforts to establish a government – including an independent electoral commission – and to resume plans for long-awaited elections in the West African country, where a political crisis following the dissolution of the government last month sparked deadly street protests.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern about events in Côte d’Ivoire, where the Government has suspended voter registration ahead of this year’s already delayed presidential election because of rising tensions.

The UN Security Council has called for the holding of credible presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire at the earliest date possible, after the much-delayed polls were recently postponed again.

A reform programme designed to formalise customary land rights in Côte d’Ivoire may compromise durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) if their specific needs are not taken into account, according to a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all parties in Côte d’Ivoire to fix a new date as soon as possible for their much-delayed elections, now postponed yet again from their latest deadline of this month.

The United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) has begun transporting the provisional voters’ list to polling stations around the country as part of the latest phase of preparations for the upcoming presidential elections.

Measures to reduce loss to follow-up in antiretroviral treatment programmes such as abolishing user fees, paying transportation costs, providing meals and improving staff training would be cost-effective even if they prevented less than half of patients from failing to return to the clinic, according to projections based on data from Côte d’Ivoire.

The Security Council has extended the sanctions imposed on Côte d’Ivoire, warning that the situation in the divided West African nation continues to pose a threat to international peace and security for the region. In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Council voted to maintain for another year an arms embargo, restrictions for certain individuals on travel and financial movements, and the ban on any State importing rough diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire.

The top United Nations envoy to the Côte d’Ivoire today called on the West African nation to build on momentum towards holding its much-delayed presidential elections, slated for the end of next month.

United Nations legal experts are on a 10-day visit to Côte d'Ivoire to study the West African country’s implementation of national laws and its prison administration as well as the judiciary’s interaction with other sectors of society. Two experts from the UN Department Operations Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Agneta Johnson and Gwendolyn Chellam, went to the western region to discuss the redeployment of judicial and prison authorities across the country following years of tensions in the wake of a political and military crisis.

The top United Nations official in Cote d’Ivoire warned today that technical difficulties may adversely affect the timeline for the country’s long-awaited presidential elections, which were to have been held as far back as 2005, and are now scheduled for 29 November. Young-Jin Choi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), said that two months have already been lost, but he noted some successful political developments, such as the establishment of mobile court hearings across the country and the end of voter registration.

This latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the fragile 2007 Ouagadougou Peace Agreement, which ended five years of fighting and territorial partition between the government and the rebel “Forces Nouvelles”. National and local authorities need to dramatically increase the tempo of electoral preparations, administrative reunification and disarmament of armed groups or the country could slide back into open conflict.

The baby was born and 12 days later died on a dilapidated upper floor of the Adjamé market in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital Abidjan. The mother, Aminata*, is barely 15. She does not know who the father is. Aminata exchanges sex for money – so she can eat, she said. Aminata is among scores of young girls – some as young as 10, according to a local NGO – who sell their bodies at Adjamé market, known locally as ‘Biêlôgô’; in the Dioula language, lôgô means market and biê means the female sex organ.

“The crisis in Côte d’Ivoire is deeper than elections,” according to Patrick N’Gouan, national coordinator of a civil society coalition. “Too many people do not eat their fill, cannot educate their children and cannot access health care. All the social and economic indicators have plummeted… We cannot solve all of Côte d’Ivoire’s problems with just politics – and yet this has been the focus of everyone’s energy and resources for the past few years. Meanwhile the people have been sacrificed,” N’Gouan told IRIN on 2 June.

The United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) has called for a prompt resumption of voter registration to allow for broad participation in the November presidential elections. UNOCI spokesman Hamadoun Toure told reporters in Abidjan that the Mission “stresses the importance of a strong commitment to expedite the remaining tasks for organizing free, fair and transparent elections in the country.”

Calling it “significant progress” toward the much-delayed elections in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations mission there today announced that the number of voters identified so far in the West African nation has surpassed 5.4 million. The Mission “urges all parties involved in the identification and registration process to redouble their efforts to maintain the momentum,” Hamadoun Touré, spokesperson for the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), told reporters in Abidjan.

Improving the status and effectiveness of women, whose numbers have risen steadily in the past decade, in the police force of the Côte d’Ivoire is the subject of a new training course organized by the United Nations mission known as UNOCI in the West African country.