Ivorian leaders must chose between personal ambitions and national interest – UN

For the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire to succeed, the West African country’s leaders must give priority to the national interest over personal ambitions, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his first report to the Security Council on peacebuilding there.

The United Nations cannot impose, let alone enforce, peace on the Ivorian people, nor can it protect them from themselves, he says in the report.

The political parties must “break the current vicious circle of recriminations, resume dialogue and resolve all outstanding issues on the basis of mutual respect and accommodation,” he says.

Threats to the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) from President Laurent Gbagbo’s supporters “have been escalating, as have rumours that Prime Minister (Seydou) Diarra may resign, which would likely lead to a major confrontation between supporters of President Gbagbo and the opposition,” Mr. Annan writes.

The only alternative to the 2003 Linas-Marcoussis peace agreement, which ended fierce fighting between the government and the opposition Forces Nouvelles would be further confrontation, with the possibility of widespread violence, the report says.

“Political rhetoric and posturing , the lack of effective cooperation within the Government of National Reconciliation, deliberately restrictive interpretations of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and the de facto partition of the country, coupled with threats of recourse to violence, all constitute very dangerous ingredients that are not conducive to the implementation” of the accord, the report says.

Because of the political crisis, the country’s gross domestic product contracted 7.4 per cent between 1999 and 2003, its patterns of trade has been disrupted and poverty has risen, but the government has been encouraged to revise its poverty reduction paper, based on wide-ranging consultations, it says.

The Security Council established UNOCI to support the peaceful settlement and assist with the elections scheduled for 2005.