Abidjan - Senior United States diplomat John Negroponte called on Sunday for the rapid implementation of the Ivory Coast peace accord signed in March, amid growing international concern at the protracted political crisis.
"We strongly support and encourage the rapid implementation of the Ouagadougou agreement," the deputy secretary of state told a press conference at the end of a two-day visit to Abidjan.
"In my conversations today I heard a great deal about the obstacles that stand in the way of new voter registrations, of disarmament, of the rule of law, and of economic progress.
"The road ahead will be a difficult one but it is not an impossible one.
"Now is the time to make real progress on the critical issues of identification, election planning, and disarmament and reintegration of the military."
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon last month expressed serious concern over the pace of the peace process in Ivory Coast, fearing it could threaten the west African nation's stability.
Ivory Coast's protracted political crisis received a boost in March when former foes President Laurent Gbagbo and ex-rebel leader Guillaume Soro signed a new peace deal brokered by neighbouring Burkina Faso.
Under the pact, Soro was named prime minister in a new unity government.
They vowed to speedily implement the deal and organise elections then planned for early 2008.
Ivory Coast, once an economic powerhouse and bastion of stability in west Africa, was split between the government-controlled south and the rebel-held north after a failed coup against Gbagbo in September 2002.
The insurgency finally ended with a peace agreement between the rebels and the government and the appointment of rebel leader Soro as prime minister in April.
The new peace plan called for new elections within 10 months, but delays in implementation mean the vote could only be held by October next year at the earliest, according to the country's electoral commission. - Sapa-AFP