Security Council calls for Côte d’Ivoire election campaign to be held in peace

The Security Council today called on Côte d’Ivoire’s authorities to ensure that the United Nations peacekeeping forces can move about freely and that the upcoming electoral campaigns in the West African country can be held on time in October and in a peaceful atmosphere.

After a closed Council meeting, the president for August, the Permanent Representative of Japan, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, read a statement to journalists saying: “The members of the Security Council called upon the Ivorian authorities and all parties to bring an end to impediments to the freedom of movement of the Impartial Forces.”

“The members of the Council urged all parties to show responsibility and restraint, in their actions and statements, so that the upcoming electoral campaign is held in a peaceful atmosphere and as scheduled. They will follow this issue vigilantly,” he added.

The Council has endorsed the Pretoria Agreement, hammered out by the opposing Ivorian parties under the chairmanship of African Union mediator, South African President Thabo Mbeki. Council members “demanded that all the signatories to this Agreement and all Ivorian parties concerned implement it fully and without delay,” Mr. Oshima said.

The members of the Council reaffirmed their full support for the AU Mediator, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG), Pierre Schori, and the UN High Representative for the Elections, Antonio Monteiro, he said.

Fighting erupted in Côte d'Ivoire in 2002 when rebels seeking to oust President Laurent Gbagbo seized the north, dividing the world's largest cocoa producer in two. Last year the Security Council set up the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), which, along with French Licorne forces, maintains a ceasefire between Government forces, ruling the south of the country, and the major rebel group, Forces Nouvelles, controlling the north.