By Loucoumane Coulibaly DAOUKRO, Ivory Coast, July 25 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's main opposition leaders said on Friday they were concerned at failures so far to implement key steps to prepare for historic elections, due in November to end years of uncertainty. The to-do list in the world's top cocoa producer includes disarming rebels and militia, identifying eligible voters and handing out election cards, they said, underscoring growing fears that the long-over due polls will be delayed again. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader who struck a deal last year to end a crisis sparked by a 2002-2003 war that split the nation, said last week that the election was on track for Nov. 30. But analysts warn that much remains to be done and concerns have been fuelled by union-led strikes over the high cost of living in the commercial capital Abidjan and talk this week of a possible cabinet reshuffle, which the opposition rejects. "From this perspective, the presidents (of the opposition parties) are worried about aspects of the process that have not yet started or have been delayed in their implementation," Alphonse Djedje Mady, an opposition spokesman, said on Friday. The joint statement was issued after a meeting between former President Henri Konan Bedie, ex-Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara and two other opposition leaders. Bedie and Ouattara are likely to pose the biggest threat to Gbagbo, who is expected to stand for president. The main concerns the opposition leaders have are the disarmament of former combatants and militia, the identification of the population and the establishment of the electoral lists, Djedje Mady said. The question of who is Ivorian and therefore eligible to vote has been central to the resolution of the crisis in Ivory Coast, a country where migrant workers were welcomed when the economy flourished but hounded when times turned hard. The opposition leaders called on Soro, Burkina Faso's President Blaise Campaore, who facilitated last year's deal, and the United Nations to end the crisis. "The meeting of presidents states its formal and categoric opposition to any idea of the dissolving the government," Djedje said, referring to threats made this week by Gbagbo. A successful poll would help re-unite the country which has been split into a rebel controlled north and government controlled south and encourage investors into the growing oil, gas and mining industries. But there are concerns that those who have profited from war-time economies through illegal taxation and corruption will resist the return to a more formal economy. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com) (Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Richard Williams)
Riot police patrol the streets during a transport strike in Abobo, Abidjan, July 17, 2008. The transport strike in Ivory Coast's commercial capital this week slightly reduced volumes of cocoa arriving ...
