(Adds detail from U.N. secretary-general report 7, 9-10) By Peter Murphy ABIDJAN, May 23 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo has demanded the United Nations remove its representative in charge of monitoring long-overdue elections in the war-divided country, accusing him of meddling. Gbagbo, a critic of foreign intervention in the West African country, accused Gerard Stoudmann and the former head of a 7,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, Pierre Schori, of behaving "as if they had power to govern Ivory Coast". "I wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the U.N. to tell him ... 'You must come and take them away because, there aren't two or three presidents. There's only one'," Gbagbo told African ambassadors this week, according to the presidency Web site. Stoudmann's office in Abidjan said he was currently on a mission outside the country and declined to comment on Gbagbo's remarks. Schori left in February after two years in office, denouncing a lack of urgency in the peace mission. "What is for sure is that Stoudmann won't return because there's no co-presidency here," Gbagbo told the diplomats. Ivory Coast has been divided in two since rebels seized the north of the world's top cocoa grower in a brief 2002-2003 civil war. Its long-deadlocked peace process has made progress since March when Gbagbo and the rebels signed a home-grown peace deal. In a report last week, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appeared ready to make concessions to Gbagbo's demand, despite acknowledging that both opposition politicians and the rebel leadership supported the election monitor's role. Stoudmann was appointed in April 2006 by former secretary general Kofi Annan to oversee the organisation of presidential and legislative polls which have been postponed twice since 2005, and, crucially, to certify the elections as free and fair. "Taking into account the ... difficulties which have arisen regarding the role of the High Representative for the Elections, it is recommended that the Security Council consider entrusting the certification role to my Special Representative," Ban said. The Security Council has yet to approve a new Special Representative for Ivory Coast following Schori's departure. Gbagbo has regularly accused foreign mediators of interference in Ivorian affairs. Hardline pro-Gbagbo youths attacked U.N. bases for four days last year after mediators made recommendations about the parliament.
