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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 26 July 2006

COTE D IVOIRE: More violence surrounding identification programme

ABIDJAN, 26 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - A programme of identification of Ivorian nationals, a key element to restoring peace in Cote d’Ivoire, has again sparked violence that left one dead in a tourist resort on the outskirts of the main city Abidjan.

Hard-line supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, the Young Patriots, descended on the tourist town of Grand-Bassam some 40 km from Abidjan to block the opening of a mobile unit charged with conducting hearings as part of the identification programme.

But the Young Patriots met resistance from youths who support the political opposition against Gbagbo and the ensuing clashes left one dead and several injured.

“Twenty-one cars were smashed up by the Young Patriots and one set fire,” said a local government official. Security forces dispersed the crowds.

A failed coup in September 2002 left Cote d’Ivoire split between a rebel north and government-controlled south. A succession of international mediators has largely failed to get a three-year-old peace deal on track and elections scheduled to take place in October look increasingly unlikely to take place.

Identification of some 3.5 million Ivorians who do not have identity papers, and so cannot vote, is a key demand of the rebels who said they would not hand in their weapons until the process is completed.

On Monday night, after a day of related violence in the southern town of Divo that also left at least one dead, Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny said the unrest would not succeed in derailing the identification process.

And on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned Sunday’s fatal attacks and blamed President Gbagbo’s ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) for making “inflammatory statements”.

State news on Tuesday night reported that Young Patriots seized a number of buses belonging to the state bus company, Abidjan transport society or SOTRA, to carry them to Grand-Bassam.

Gbagbo has repeatedly said that the identification process should not take place until the rebels and some 4,000 militia fighters in the south of the country are disarmed.

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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006