AU envoy meets Cote d'Ivoire election officials amid stalled process

The special representative of the African Union (AU) in Cote d'lvoire, Ambroise Nyomsaba, met with President of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) Youssouf Bakayoko here on Thursday to discuss the stalled election process.

The presidential elections, which were postponed to late April and early May, are likely to be put off again as time is running out amid continued disputes over the vote list and disarmament.

After the meeting at the CEI headquarters, Nyomsaba said the AU was very much interested in the election process in the West African country.

"The CEI president explained to me the work that is going on and I encouraged him to carry on with the same zeal," he told media.

"It is important to have regular consultations among the actors in this process," said the AU emissary, who has visited CEI twice in the past month.

The people of Cote d'Ivoire and the international community are waiting for the holding of the elections, which have been postponed several times since 2005 and expected to end the country's crisis following an attempted coup in September 2002.

Source:Xinhua