YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (AFP) – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and a clutch of key African leaders went into talks Wednesday in Ivory Coast to evaluate the divided country’s progress to elections and press for swifter action.

The closed-door talks started mid-afternoon and brought together President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel leaders and opposition politicians before Annan and African mediators, with the aim of fast-tracking the peace process toward elections later this year.

Ivory Coast was divided into two after a foiled coup bid against Gbagbo in September 2002.

Peace deals signed since then had not been implemented until international power brokers appointed Prime Minister Konan Banny in December to jump-start the processes and hold elections by October 31.

With the poll deadline four months away Banny has managed to conduct a trial voter identification process and to have pro-government forces complete withdrawing from the frontline in preparation for much-awaited disarmament.

Backing Annan on the assessment trip were African leaders who have been mediating in recent months: presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.

Presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and currently chairman of the African Union, and Mamadou Tandja of Niger, the head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are also in attendance.