The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire is urging the divided West African country to work out a timetable for the long-delayed presidential election set for this year.

"Without goal, without date, without periods, one cannot support as one ought to in aid to the process," said Young-Jin Choi, spokesman for the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI), at the weekly news briefing held in Abidjan on Thursday.

Choi appealed to the Independent Electoral Commission to fix "a timetable of periods in the best definitions" with "a precise date."

The ONUCI spokesman proposed a five-stage roadmap to the polls, including the publication of a provisional and definitive schedule, the availability of voter and identification cards, the distribution of those cards, the election campaign and the presidential vote.

The country last delayed the scheduled polls in November amid the jittering of the ONUCI, which initially urged the country to fulfill the identification process by the end of January 2009, and the election by the end of the spring.

The United Nations on Thursday called on the country to hold the election at a later time in the year, wishing parties involved in the peace process to accelerating steps to the anticipated election.

Although the world body deplored the slow movement, it noted obvious progress since December, when the south under President Laurent Gbagbo and the north controlled by Primer Minister Guillaume Soro signed their fourth accords since March 2007.

The latest inked document tackles the key issue of army, administrative and judicial reunification, providing for the integration of 5,000 ex-combatants of the former rebel New Forces led by Soro.

Meanwhile, more than 4.6 million people have been accounted for in the identification, involves a total of 12 million nationals both at home and abroad, including 9 million voters.

Both sides have voiced confidence in accomplishing the peace process this year.

With the situation largely improved throughout Cote d'Ivoire, the UN Security Council has decided to reduce the UNOCI mission from 8,115 peacekeepers to 7,450. France also plans to recall home 1,100 of the 2,000 troops stationed in Cote d'Ivoire.

Cote d'Ivoire, a leading cocoa and diamond exporter in West Africa, was split in two after a botched coup attempt by the New Forces (FN) in 2002. On March 4, 2007, President Laurent Gbagbo and FN leader Soro concluded a peace deal in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, under which Soro was named prime minister.

But the presidential vote has been repeatedly postponed since 2005 amid differences over voter identification and disarmament.

Source:Xinhua