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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
COTE D IVOIRE: Tensions building ahead of key meeting
ABIDJAN, 11 Sep 2006 (IRIN) - The international working group charged with overseeing a United Nations blueprint for peace have recommended the power balance in war-divided Cote d’Ivoire be reassessed when that arrangement comes up for review later this month.
The UN-appointed International Working Group (IWG) that oversees the the implementation of UN Resolution 1633, on Friday reiterated that elections schedule for the 31 October are impossible.
The IWG called on the UN Security Council to find a new framework to ease the country towards peace with expanded powers for the Prime Minister, greater involvement from the international community and recommended the use of sanctions.
Cote d’Ivoire has been split in two since a failed coup in September 2002. Four years of negotiations have failed to reunite the country, rebel and pro-government fighters have not been disarmed and a key programme to issue identity cards to some three million disenfranchised Ivorians hangs in the balance.
African statesmen and the UN Security Council are scheduled to evaluate the Ivorian peace process on the margins of the UN General Assembly meeting on 20 September, and to meet political leaders to set new rules to govern the country in the post-31 October period.
Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo are likely to challenge the IWG’s recommendations, which if carried out would see Gbagbo’s powers reduced when his current mandate expires on the 31 October.
Congolese President and African Union Chairman, Denis Sassou Nguesso, flew to Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday to try to break the political deadlock.
Last week, Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny announced his government's resignation, after hundreds of people protested the dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan that has been blamed for five deaths.
Banny’s decision to disband the government has been slammed by the “Group of Seven”, (G7) a coalition of the main armed and unarmed opposition parties.
“The G7 condemns the Head of State and the Prime Minister Banny’s will to make cynical use of the drama and the suffering of the Ivorian population to settle political issues,” added the group’s statement released on Thursday.
“We warn that we will not participate in any government which will not respect the UN Resolution 1633”, they added, calling for a new executive body to lead Cote d’Ivoire to elections.
Analysts expect Prime Minister Banny to set up a new cabinet this week that should include representatives of the political parties and rebel New Forces movement, as requested by the UN-backed peace process.
Once perceived as a neutral mediator and an expert on political negotiations, Banny has bit by bit lost the confidence of his more fervent supporters, failing to break the impasse impeding elections and paving the way for Gbagbo to delay the country's peace process longer.
“Banny has lost the support of the opposition groups, we suspect him to be an accomplice of President Gbagbo and we ask for their resignation”, a member of the coalition told IRIN. “Banny is answerable to the international community, not to Gbagbo.”
According to Security Council Resolution 1633, adopted in October last year, Banny is in charge of disarmament, identification and organising elections. Gbagbo is allowed to remain in office for up to a year, on condition that the country holds “free, fair, open and transparent” elections and provided he worked alongside Banny.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group warned in a report released on Thursday that the country will slide towards civil war if the international community does not set a new election date and apply enough pressure on Cote d’Ivoire’s leaders to make it happen.
“The real civil war may yet be still to come,” the global think-tank said. “This second election postponement results from the deliberate strategy of politicians who want no peace they cannot dominate.”
Crisis Group, like the IWG, suggested that the UN give Banny “extraordinary executive power” during an extended transition, including the authority to sign decrees and suspend constitutional provisions obstructing the peace process.
But Gilles Yabi, a Crisis Group West Africa analyst in Dakar, also warned Ivorian political opponents are likely to take increasingly hard-line positions as the 20 September meeting with the UN approaches.
“The parties involved in the peace process are getting more radical ahead of the UN meeting,” Yabi told IRIN. “Negotiations have started and the pressure on the African leaders will increase as we gradually get nearer the meeting.”
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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
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