Bouake - President Laurent Gbagbo has promised Ivory Coast will hold elections this year but after years of missed deadlines, rows and political turmoil, many of his war-weary citizens no longer believe him.

In Bouake, the main city of rebel-held Ivory Coast whose ruined buildings and potholed streets still bear witness to the 2002-3 war that carved the country in two, anger is growing.

The polls were meant to happen in 2005, but bickering over rebel disarmament and voter registration have set back date after date.

A row between Gbago and the electoral commission has made organising polls at the end of this month or in early March look all but impossible in the world's top cocoa grower.

Gbagbo last month accused the commission, which is led by an opposition politician, of trying to illegally add 430,000 disputed names to the voter list, although the commission says the leaked names were never intended to be on the final roll.

Opposition challengers Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie say Gbagbo is just stalling the process to extend his mandate, a charge he denies.