UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo urged the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday to ease an arms embargo against his war-divided West Africa country and to lift sanctions against three political leaders. Ivory Coast has made stuttering progress towards reunification since a March peace deal signed in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou by Gbabgo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro, now his prime minister. The agreement foresees general elections by next year in the world's biggest cocoa exporter. The U.N. Security Council slapped an arms embargo on Ivory Coast in November 2004 over the violation of a 2003 ceasefire between the government and the New Forces rebels which control the country's north. "We are taking great steps along the road to peace since the Ouagadougou deal," Gbagbo said in a speech before the Assembly. "I would like therefore to solemnly request the partial lifting of the arms embargo to allow the Ivorian state to fulfill its mission to protect people and goods." An attempt by the New Forces rebels to oust Gbagbo, whom they accuse of discriminating against the country's Muslim north, triggered the brief 2002-2003 civil war. Gbagbo also appealed for the removal of travel and asset freezes imposed in February 2006 on Charles Ble Goude and Eugene Djue, leaders of the Young Patriots youth movement which supports him, and rebel commander Fofie Kouakou. The three men were accused of blocking the peace process in the former French colony. The Ivorian president also appealed to the international community to provide financing for the redeployment of the civil service in the rebel-held north, the organisation of next year's elections and the return of refugees from foreign countries.
