Abidjan - Ivory Coast's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro on Thursday announced that long-delayed presidential elections would take place on November 29.

The election had been due to take place last year, but arguments over eligibility and voter registration delayed the polls.

The elections are seen as a step in the healing process after a civil war between the rebel-held north and the south in the former French colony.

Soro's rebel forces launched an insurgency in 2002 to take control of the largely Muslim north. UN-backed negotations brought about a unity government, headed by Soro, in 2007.(dpa)