ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo pledged on Friday that his nation would hold elections this year at last, despite many years of missed electoral deadlines and political crisis.
The world's top cocoa grower has been plagued by instability and economic stagnation since a short 2002-3 war left half of it controlled by rebels who tried to oust Gbagbo in a failed coup attempt.
Elections were supposed to take place in 2005 but have been delayed repeatedly because of spats over establishing the identity of voters and disarming rebels. The government announced on Thursday that the vote would be held this year on October 31.
"I say to all of you that this year there will be presidential elections in Ivory Coast and our country will be able to start work rebuilding itself," Gbagbo said in a speech on national TV to mark Ivory Coast's 50th year of independence from France.
"The hope dearest to me is for Ivorians to be able to freely choose who will lead their country".
The elections are seen as vital for attracting investment back into the region's former economic powerhouse and to enable key reforms to the ailing cocoa sector to be carried out.
A November date was missed and the process later collapsed in political wrangling over whether some voters are really Ivorian, an issue that still has to be resolved. Reuters Africa
