Secretary-General welcomes renewed commitment to Côte d'Ivoire peace process

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today congratulated South African President Thabo Mbeki for negotiating with Côte d'Ivoire's major parties a renewed commitment to their latest peace accord, named the Pretoria Agreement, and called on the Ivorians to move quickly on implementation.

The Ivorian parties undertook to honour their pledges in a declaration issued yesterday on the accord's provisions for disarmament and elections. The West African country is recovering from a conflict over electoral eligibility that has split the country in two, with United Nations and UN-authorized French peacekeepers stationed along the divide.

With the date set for the presidential elections being now 30 October, Mr. Annan urged the parties to adhere strictly to the revised timetable for the implementation of key provisions of the Agreement so that credible elections could be held on schedule.

"The time has come to move on this path briskly," he said.

The Secretary-General also noted that the declaration envisaged imposing sanctions against those parties which failed to implement the Pretoria Agreement.