Elections set in Guinea, Côte Ivoire

December is likely to be a busy time in West Africa.

The Guinean military junta announced that the first round of presidential elections to replace the late Gen. Lansana Conté will be held on December 13, two months after scheduled legislative elections. Junta leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara recently declared that he would not be a candidate in those elections.

In neighboring Côte d'Ivoire, long overdue presidential elections will supposedly be held 'no later than December 6,' according to the Ivorian ambassador to the United Nations. He noted that the country's independent electoral commission promised elections between October 11 and December 6 of this year and that the exact date "will be announced by President [Laurent] Gbagbo in the next few days."