This week U.N. and French peacekeepers got the go-ahead to extend their mission in Ivory Coast amid fears that delays to promised elections there could derail crucial peace accords.

The U.N. Security Council's decision speaks volumes about what is at stake in this deeply divided country. If elections promised for June don't happen, many fear Ivory Coast could spiral back into the kind of violence that tore it apart between 2002 and 2007.

Media reports hint at the urgency. The International Herald Tribune this week wrote about U.N. calls for all parties involved in the peace process to "redouble their efforts" to make the polls happen.

But as the U.N.'s IRIN news wire reports, the United Nations is concerned about how much there is still to do before elections can take place, including registering voters and certifying electoral lists.

Disarmament and a lack of unity in the armed forces are also of pressing concern, and "continue to represent a potential threat to the future of the peace process", according to the U.N.

IRIN also notes that the U.N. is worried about human rights violations in the country and recent surges in crime and sexual violence against children.

The current accord, which has raised the possibility of lasting peace, is now the sixth agreement aimed at healing the country's wounds.

The East African newspaper highlights the need for the government to ensure all citizens are given equal rights, saying "issues of identity and citizenship are at the core of the Ivorian crisis".

Almost 3 million Ivorians still don't have identity cards, causing them to suffer discrimination and disenfranchisement as a result, according to the paper. These identity cards are also essential for citizens to be able to vote in the forthcoming elections.

In an article on a briefing paper about the future of the Ivory Coast peace accord by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the paper notes that "nine months from the signing of the OPA (Ouagadougou Political Agreement), only a few tasks have been fulfilled".

The paper also draws attention to the government's inability to extend it operations throughout the country. Ivory Coast has been split in two since a failed coup in 2002 sparked civil war and the government lost control of the north and west.

"The extension of the state's administration has not occurred. While many civil servants have been redeployed to posts in the north of the country, a region that had remained out of government control since the start of the crisis, many have returned to Abidjan, citing poor working conditions and infrastructure," the paper notes.

The next few months will be crucial for a peace process widely seen as Ivory Coast's best and last chance.

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