UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1 (AFP) - The United Nations is urgently reviewing its involvement in next week's elections in Ivory Coast, a spokesman said Friday after opposition leader Alassane Ouattara was barred from taking part. The spokesman said that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "dismayed by the decision of the Ivorian Supreme Court to disqualify Mr. Ouattara from participating in the December 10 election." He noted that Thursday's court ruling had led the Rally of Republicans (RDR) to withdraw from the elections and to call for mass demonstrations in the capital, Abidjan. Annan "has throughout been of the view that only an election with the broadest possible participation will serve the cause of democracy and stability in Ivory Coast," spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "The United Nations is urgently reassessing its involvement in the observation of the elections," he added. On Tuesday, Eckhard had said the UN would coordinate international observers and prepare instruction manuals and a code of conduct for them. The general election follows a controversial presidential poll on October 22 which brought Laurent Gbagbo to office after the country's military leader, General Robert Guei, tried to rig the result. In the uprising against Guei, 171 peopled were killed, according to official figures. The Supreme Court had barred Ouattara, a former prime minister, from standing in the presidential election, on the grounds that he had used the nationality of Ivory Coast's northern neighbour Burkina Faso. On Thursday, it disqualified him from taking part in the general election on similar grounds. rh/g _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------