Military

DATE=2/10/2005

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IVORY COAST/ SECURITY (L-O)

NUMBER=2-322473

BYLINE=GABI MENEZES

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

/// EDITORS PLEASE NOTE Q AT END OF PIECE ///

HEADLINE: UN Concerned Over Ivory Coast Security

INTRO: The United Nations peacekeeping mission in divided Ivory Coast says it needs more troops, amid allegations the peacekeepers are not doing enough in the face of growing insecurity. Gabi Menezes reports from the commercial capital, Abidjan.

TEXT: Alan Doss, the acting U.N. special representative for Ivory Coast, says the U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast is not adequate to ensure security. Mr. Doss told a news conference in Abidjan, he hopes the U.N. Security Council will increase the number of U.N. peacekeepers in the country.

/// DOSS ACT ///

"Throughout the country, we want to be sure the security situation is guaranteed, but there are limits. We are a small force. It may not seem like (it), but we have five-thousand troops here. Six thousand. My previous assignment was in Sierra Leone -- I keep repeating this -- where a country, which is a third of the size, a third of the population (of Ivory Coast), we had three times the number of troops."

/// END ACT ///

Local media have strongly criticized the United Nations force, saying the peacekeepers are not doing enough to enforce security. On Wednesday, a French businessman based in Abidjan was shot and wounded by unknown assailants. Mr. Doss condemned the attack, and warned such attacks harm the country's chances of drawing foreign investment.

/// SECOND DOSS ACT ///

"We find this very disturbing, an attack on a prominent individual, very active in the business community. We deplore it. But beyond that, the economy has to get back on its feet, and if businessmen, wherever they come from, are attacked, it can't be good for the economy."

/// END ACT ///

Many foreigners working and doing business in Ivory Coast left following rioting and looting last November, much of it directed against foreigners. The violence erupted after French troops destroyed most of Ivory Coast's military airplanes in retaliation for the killing of several French soldiers during a government attack on a rebel area.

A French rapid reaction force of about four-thousand troops has been helping U.N. peacekeepers monitor the front-line between government-held southern areas and rebels in the north.

The renewed fighting prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on all sides. It was recently reinforced, allowing U.N. and French monitors to conduct weapons searches without prior warning.

The new head of the armed forces in Ivory Coast, Philippe Mangou, said Thursday, the United Nations must give prior notice to the government before any such search. (SIGNED)

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Q FOLLOWS:

Q: What is the U.N. doing to combat its negative image in Ivory Coast?

There have been hate articles in the local media published almost weekly saying that the U.N. is not doing enough for security. Almost a year into its mission, the U.N. has only now instituted weekly meetings with the press. At today's first meeting, we received a press pack, urging the press not to be partisan. The acting special representative asked journalists to check their facts with the U.N., even if the article was criticizing the organization. Peacekeepers have also just started mixed patrols with government forces in volatile areas, to try and keep peace, but so far local residents have not been impressed.

NEB/GNM/TW/FC