Statements in Security Council meeting on Cote d'Ivoire

Background

The Security Council met this afternoon to consider the situation in Côte d’Ivoire in order to hear briefings from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). After the briefings, the Council will take up the matter in closed consultations.

The Council took up the situation in Côte d'Ivoire following targeted attacks by rebels on 18 and 19 September in Abidjan, Bouaka and Korhogo. The Government of Côte d'Ivoire sought to end the crisis through negotiations under the auspices of ECOWAS and with the active participation of the United Nations. On 17 October, a ceasefire was signed by the Government and three rebel groups supervised by the troops from France. In December, however, fighting intensified.

On 20 December 2002, in a presidential statement, the Council firmly condemned attempts to use force to influence the political situation in the country and to overthrow the elected Government. The Council expressed its full support for the deployment of an Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) force, under the command of Senegal, before 31 December, as called for in the final communiqué adopted on 18 December at the extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in Dakar.

On 4 February this year, the Council, unanimously adopting resolution 1464, called for immediate implementation of the peace agreement signed by the Côte d’Ivoire political forces in Linas-Marcoussis, France, from 15 to 23 January, which provided for establishment of a Government of National Reconciliation. The Council authorized, for a period of six months, deployment of ECOWAS forces –- called ECOFORCE -- together with French forces.

In a report (documents S/2003/374 and Add.1) of 26 March, the Secretary-General recommended, among several options, deploying a military liaison group co-located with the field headquarters of the French and ECOWAS forces, as well as those of the government and rebel forces and that a United Nations mission in Côte d’Ivoire be established, to be called MINUCI (Mission des Nations Unies en Côte d’Ivoire), to be headed by his Special Representative, Albert Tévoedjré.

Statements

KOFI ANNAN, Secretary-General of the United Nations, welcomed the Foreign Ministers of ECOWAS present and thanked ECOWAS and France for the important role they were playing in the search for peace and stability in Côte d’Ivoire, through their support for the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis Accord. On the military front, their peacekeeping activities had played a key role in averting an escalation in the fighting. He also thanked the members of the Council for their consistent attention to the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire and the role of the United Nations in the peace process. His Special Representative, Albert Tévoedjré, was currently chairing the follow-up committee established in accordance with the Linas-Marcoussis Accord, and he was pleased at the progress Prime Minister Seydou Diarra had made in establishing the new Government.

The presence of such a high-level ECOWAS delegation today showed how seriously West Africa took the problem immediately confronting the international community –- namely, how to replenish the depleted financial resources of the ECOFORCE so that it could continue playing its essential role in promoting peace in Côte d’Ivoire. In that context, it was necessary to acknowledge the help already given by the donor countries and institutions, which had been assisting ECOWAS from the beginning of its involvement in Côte d’Ivoire, and particularly for the deployment of ECOFORCE.

At this critical time, when the various Ivorian parties had at last begun taking important steps to implement the Linas-Marcoussis Accord, ECOWAS had found it necessary to decide on a substantial increase in the size of ECOFORCE, in order to make it more effective, he said. He appealed to members of the Council and the broader international community to quickly provide ECOWAS with the additional

43 million euros that would be required to sustain the ECOFORCE for the next six months.

In order to complement the peacekeeping efforts launched by ECOWAS and France, he had recommended the establishment of a small United Nations operation comprising military liaison, as well as human rights, civil affairs and media components. He hoped the Council would shortly authorize that mission, so that the United Nations could strengthen its role in the Ivorian peace process.

In conclusion, he assured the ECOWAS Ministers that the United Nations would continue to cooperate with them to help the Ivorian people recover the stability and prosperity for which their country had been so well known in the past.

NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ghana and current Chairman of ECOWAS, said representatives of the organizations were here as result of a Council mandate given to it to try to advance the peace process in Côte d'Ivoire. Since the crisis broke out in that country, ECOWAS had been active in trying to stabilize the situation there, by negotiating a ceasefire and also by contributing to negotiating a Government of National Reconciliation. That Government was now in place. Côte d'Ivoire was now returning to the path of normalcy and peace. It was essential for the international community to give that Government and the process the maximum measure of support.

He said ECOWAS had decided that it was necessary to expand ECOFORCE from 1,200 to 3,300 soldiers. The mandate of the original force had been a monitoring role. That mandate had been transformed to include protection of the Government, patrolling the borders, in particularly the western border, responsibility for demobilization and disarmament of militias, and creating conditions for the new Government to have full control of the territory. That expansion had financial implications. Despite the willingness of ECOWAS to find a homegrown solution, the means available were insufficient. Therefore, ECOWAS sought support from the Council in financing the force.

The delegation had been to Washington, D.C., and would go to Europe tomorrow to press the case for financing. The tour would conclude with a donors conference in Brussels, Belgium, on 12 May. Côte d'Ivoire was an extremely important nation within the West Africa region, both economically and politically. The parties had shown a willingness to come to an accommodation. It was the duty of the international community to support the process the Ivorians themselves had initiated. The most concrete support would be to enable ECOFORCE in bringing Côte d'Ivoire back to normalcy, so that free and fair elections could be held in the future.