Abidjan, July 11, 2006

During his recent visit to Ivory Coast, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan let it be understood that the UN doubts that the long delayed Ivory Coast elections will take place before the October 30 deadline. This was also the conclusion reached by a DJCI delegation from its recent informal bilateral meetings in New York with Security Council members.

Yet Mr. Annan seems to consider that the delay will only be short- a matter of a few months. Reflecting the position of several of his Security Council member bosses, Mr. Annan has let it be understood that the patience of the international community is running out, and that it will not allow the Ivorian status quo to continue indefinitely. Understandably, UN members paying for ONUCI are anxious to cut costs.

DJCI President Modeste Seri commented: “an effective and responsible approach is necessary, however. Experience has shown that UN peace building interventions need to be maintained for a sufficient time. Mr. Annan has openly lamented the disappointment recently experienced in East Timor, acknowledging that the UN peacekeeping presence there was too short. He is now asking for the international community not to cut support for Liberian peace building too soon. We ask: why should Ivory Cost be different? Why should we be rushed into a premature election, when the conditions are clearly not there to lay the foundations for a sustainable peace?  Will it not be more costly for the international community to have to return in future to deal with the major conflict that will engulf our country and the West African region if effective preventive measures are not taken now?”

Mr. Seri added: “rather than waste money on forcing elections upon us now, DJCI appeals to the international community to first help to address the root causes of the Ivorian crisis. Let there be an end to outside interference in support of one side of the conflict, let there be genuine administrative assistance to a non-partisan transitional government team, as we have been recommending for the last three years. Let the mistakes that have alienated part of our population be corrected. Let there be support for a process of reconciliation, civic education, and institutional capacity building in the judiciary, government services. Let there be strong action to  control corruption”.

DJCI is encouraged to note the successful cooperation that is developing between the Head of State, Mr. Gbagbo, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Konan Banny, which is internationally well acknowledged. “Why not support the two to lead us out of the current crisis under a new technocratic non-partisan government?” Mr. Seri said, adding “after four years of real comedy, we can agree that the signatories of the Linas Marcoussis Accords have failed. They can not lead our country to peace. They need to be replaced by competent non partisan Ivorian professionals, respectful of human rights. Only after peace has returned will we be able to successfully engage in elections for our longer term leaders, not under present conditions. It is high time we end the games and responsibly face reality”.