By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday renewed for another year its ban on arms and diamond trade with Ivory Coast but promised to review the embargo once the country holds a presidential election. Earlier this month an election official in the world's top cocoa exporter said delays in the identification and registration of voters meant that the presidential vote scheduled for next month would not take place until next year. The 15-nation council unanimously approved the French-drafted resolution extending the arms embargo imposed on Ivory Coast in 2004 over violations of a 2003 cease-fire between the government and New Forces rebels who control the country's north. An embargo on buying rough diamonds mined in the economic powerhouse of Francophone West Africa followed in 2005. The sanctions were renewed until Oct. 31, 2009, but the resolution says the council will review them "no later than three months after the holding of free, fair and transparent presidential elections in accordance with international standards." One senior council diplomat described the council's action as part of a "carrot and stick" strategy intended to motivate the country to prevent any further election delays. The vote in Ivory Coast, which had already been delayed several times since 2005 by political conflict and sporadic violence, was scheduled for Nov. 30. But an official at the Independent Electoral Commission told Reuters in Abidjan that delays in the registration of voters, including a strike by census officials working to identify citizens, meant the poll could not be held on the planned date. The election will seal a March 2007 peace deal signed between President Laurent Gbagbo and northern rebels, who fought a 2002-03 civil war in the West African state, where French and United Nations peacekeepers are backing the election process. Gbagbo is widely expected to stand for re-election. The vote is now expected to be held in the first quarter of 2009, though the Ivorian electoral official said the new date for the poll might not be announced until mid-November. (Editing by Jackie Frank)
French scientist Luc Montagnier, 2008 Nobel prize winner for medicine and director of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, attends the international conference about AIDS at the presidential palace ...
