Security Council condemns recent burst of violence in Côte d’Ivoire

Decrying the weekend’s deadly outbreak of violence in Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council today called on all Ivorian parties to play their part to implement commitments made at a meeting convened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this month.

In a statement to the press read out by its July President, Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sablière of France, the Council issued a “firm condemnation” of the violence that included an attack on the vehicle of Gérard Stoudmann, the UN’s High Representative for the elections in Côte d’Ivoire.

The statement also offered full support to Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and encouraged him and others to help implement the agreement signed by all Ivorian parties in the country’s capital, Yamoussoukro, on 5 July. The commitments made then covered issues including demobilization and the holding of elections, which are scheduled to take place in October.

Earlier, Mr. Stoudmann and Abou Moussa, the Secretary-General’s Principal Deputy Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, briefed the Council during a closed session that also included a discussion of Mr. Annan’s most recent progress report on the UN mission to the West African country, known by its acronym UNOCI.