France’s United Nations ambassador said on Tuesday that more UN peacekeepers are needed to bolster the recent peace deal in Côte d’Ivoire.
Jean-Marc de La Sabliere told the Security Council his country would introduce a draft resolution by the end of the week to extend the mandate and size of the UN mission.
South African President Thabo Mbeki mediated a peace deal on April 6 aimed at ending the West African nation’s civil war. They agreed to disarm and make plans for new elections.
About 6 000 UN peacekeepers and 4 000 French troops are in the country. De la Sabliere said more UN personnel were now needed to maintain peace, help with a nationwide disarmament campaign due to start on May 15 and assist in the elections set for the end of October.
”Our council must do everything to support the efforts of President Mbeki and help the Ivorian parties achieve peace,” he said.
Last week, army and rebel troops began pulling back heavy weapons from front lines that divide the rebel-held north from the government-held south.
Côte d’Ivoire’s UN ambassador, Philippe Djangone Bi, said the agreement was being implemented on the ground but said his country would still need the support of donors, the United Nations and the Security Council, especially for the October elections.
Several members of the Security Council emphasised that the responsibility for peace lay with Côte d’Ivoire.
The United States representative at the Security Council meeting, Reed Fendrick, said: ”It is action on the ground that matters most. We look forward to seeing this commitment to peace backed up by concrete action in strict accordance with the agreement”.
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s leading cocoa producer, had stood as West Africa’s single-most stable and prosperous country for decades, but a 1999 coup ended the country’s peaceful reputation and began years of instability.
”The long-suffering people of Côte d’Ivoire must no longer be made to suffer from political differences among the parties,” Nigeria’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Simeon Adekanye, said. – Sapa-AP