Press encounter after the meeting on the follow-up mechanisms for the Peace Agreement on Côte d'Ivoire (unofficial transcript)

SG: [I am extremely satisfied with the progress] that has been made today and I think of course, as I indicated, this is the first step. The implementation is going to be the test. But there seems to be a good faith, and good will to press ahead in order not to disappoint the people or the country.

Q: Did you have to put much pressure on President Gbagbo to get him to agree in the end. He seemed to be hanging on very tightly?

SG: No, I think all the Ivoirian leaders who are here at this conference realized the seriousness and the gravity of the situation and came determined to work for a solution.

Q: In the end, people took their guns and achieved something by it, that is a bad example, isn't it ?

SG: I don't know if one can say that people took out guns and … you had a country which was fast becoming really divided and one had to take steps to get them to reconcile and to bring them together and reestablish democratic rule and strengthen democratic institutions and this is what we intend to do.

Q: Vous êtes satisfait ?

SG: Oui, je crois que l'on a eu une très bonne réunion, je suis satisfait. Je crois que tout le monde est satisfait, maintenant, il faut le mettre en application. Il y a un accord, mais ce n'est qu'un début.

Q: Vous arrivez avec quels moyens, Monsieur Annan ?

SG: La communauté internationale va les aider, mais évidemment, eux-mêmes doivent coopérer. Et puis, il y a la force française et puis l'ECOWAS qui vont travailler ensemble et l'ONU va aider.

Q: How blunt did you have to be with President Gbagbo to get him to agree in the end ?

SG: I think in these things, you use persuasion, you use encouragement, a bit of pressure and you use all the means necessary to convince people and get them to move forward. I think that is what happened here.