Ivorian leader and UN envoy discuss peace process
The top United Nations envoy to Côte d’Ivoire has held talks with the President of the West African nation on progress made in the peace process, including voter identification and registration, as well as the upcoming long-awaited presidential elections.
During yesterday’s meeting in the capital, Yamoussoukro, with President Laurent Gbagbo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Y. J. Choi, congratulated the Ivorian Government for its identification and voter registration scheme, which wrapped up on 30 June.
With 6.5 million voters having been identified or registered, Mr. Choi said the operation “constitutes a solid basis to accelerate the crisis resolution process.”
The stalled elections, scheduled for 29 November, present an “exceptional window of opportunity,” he told Mr. Gbagbo.
Financing for the polls has been secured and the political will needed is in place, with technical, management and planning issues being the remaining challenges, the Special Representative said.
In his latest report on the work of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that Côte d’Ivoire’s political parties have the responsibility for ensuring that the elections are held on time and are free, fair and transparent.
He wrote that he has been encouraged by the progress so far, including the ongoing pre-electoral campaigning activities and the parties’ reaffirmation that all signatories of a 2003 peace accord are eligible to stand as candidates in the upcoming polls.
“It is important that the Ivorian parties sustain the progress achieved so far and complete, in a timely manner, the remaining stages of the peace process,” the report, made public last week, said. “The parties should also preserve the prevailing positive political climate.”
Mr. Ban also emphasized the need for more progress towards reunification – in 2002 Côte d’Ivoire became divided between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north – before the elections, which were previously supposed to be conducted in 2005 and 2008.
“It is the political will and calculations of the main Ivorian political players that will ultimately determine whether or not the election date will be respected… Their successful conduct will place Côte d’Ivoire on the path to reclaim its place as a pillar of stability, democracy and development in the subregion,” he wrote.