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UN peacekeepers in Côte d'Ivoire meet hostility in government-controlled south

12 August 2005 – Two unarmed military observers of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d'Ivoire received a hostile reception and had their vehicle ransacked in a town west of the commercial hub, Abidjan, in the second such incident in the town in two days as the country emerges from civil war, the mission said today.

A crowd in the same town, Gagnoa, which is 271 kilometres from Abidjan and located in the southern area controlled by the Government, forced a civilian team from the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) to turn back earlier in the week as they were on their way to meet senior local officials, it said.

UNOCI was set up last year to help maintain a ceasefire between Government forces in the south and the rebel Forces nouvelles in the north. President Laurent Gbagbo has called on Ivorians not to interfere with UNOCI's work in the world's top cocoa producer.

Meanwhile, as he wound up his work in Côte d'Ivoire, UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General Alan Doss told journalists that UNOCI would decide soon whether to launch an international inquiry into a reported attack by unidentified people on towns just north of Abidjan, still in the Government-ruled south.

Prime Minister Seydou Diarra had asked the UN to conduct the investigation of the 23 July overnight assault on Anyama and Agboville and the mission was trying to find out when investigators would be available, Mr. Doss told journalists.

Last week when a UNOCI civilian team, comprising human rights experts and civilian police (CIVPOL), went to Agboville, 70 kilometres north of Abidjan, it was prevented from carrying out its assessment mission, the mission said then. In July, the reports of the attack led to the immediate deployment of UNOCI troops in the area, but the local population prevented the peacekeepers from entering the town for 48 hours.

Mr. Doss urged the Ivorian news media to make positive contributions to resolving the country's complex problems by distinguishing always between opinion and fact. He reminded them that the return of peace to Côte d'Ivoire was significant for the return of peace and stability to the whole sub-region and the continent.

Mr. Doss is scheduled to take up his new position as Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) in Liberia on Monday.