Abidjan, August 28, 2006

Already for some months DJCI has been expressing the view that the Ivory Coast October 31 election deadline was not feasible. The UN has been unwilling to openly acknowledge this reality until the August 23 statement by its mission in the country, ONUCI, that “for technical reasons” the deadline will not be met.  We are now led to believe that the elections will take place, albeit with a small delay.

DJCI has also repeatedly questioned the utility of these elections if held prematurely and before the fundamental issues causing the Ivory Coast conflict have been addressed. In the view of DJCI the currently envisaged elections, if they ever take place, would not lay the foundations for sustainable peace in the country.  

Moreover, DJCI would like to question the utility of holding on to the ‘Linas-Marcussis Peace Agreements’, the so-called peace process that underwrites the current election schedule. It has always been the view of DJCI that this process is flawed, and would fail. DJCI’s assessment has repeatedly been validated by events unfolding in Ivory Coast.

To support the implementation of the Linas-Marcussis agreements, the international community has spent billions through ONUCI in the last three years. What are the results? So far, only a series of seeming advances inevitably followed by set-backs that nullify them. Meanwhile the Ivorian people suffer as they impoverish and the institutions of their once proud state keep on deteriorating.  We hear that now, as a last resort, the UN is summoning the main political actors of the country, including the rebel leader, to explain themselves in New York in mid September.

Wouldn’t this also be a good time for the international community to assess the efforts it has made so far to resolve the Ivorian conflict?  Wouldn’t it be useful at this time to look at basic principles and question the applicability of the Linas-Marcussis agreements?

Recently ONUCI claimed that “there is no other way of achieving a viable and lasting solution to the crisis”. It would be good to carefully examine the validity of this assumption, which encapsulates the international community’s current thinking. Is it really sustainable?

DJCI does not agree with it. We feel that this thinking is wrong. It will not resolve the Ivorian conflict, thus endangering peace in the whole West African region; it will continue wasting large funds and will make ONUCI appear as a failure, damaging the UN’s reputation.

DJCI feels that ONUCI has been given an impossible task and that little will be gained by maintaining the present fiction. It is high time to candidly acknowledge this reality and for the Security Council to change the mission’s mandate.

In DJCI’s opinion, shared by wide sectors of the Ivorian population, the Linas-Marcussis ‘agreements’, imposed on Ivorian factions by a French government anxious to resolve the conflict, are basically flawed. They will not serve as a basis for resolving the Ivorian crisis. Whatever their deficiencies, the authorities in office since October 2000 refuse to share power with rebels; we see this reluctance manifesting itself over and over again, in what are dismissed as “vacillations” by the Head of State, Mr Gbagbo. Faced with no options he appears to be agreeing to terms imposed on him, but later reneges on these ‘agreements’.   We have seen this happen time and time again. Whatever the shortcomings and mistakes of his government may have been, and DJCI does not deny their existence, peace will not be brought about by supporting rebels, even if these rebels appear to promote the interests of certain sectors of the local community in addition to those of some outside powers.  The true interests of the Ivory Coast and of its people would be served by encouraging the legitimate authorities to improve on their shortcomings. For this to be possible, they must first feel secure not the opposite, as is currently the case.  

We therefore encourage the international community to urgently re-examine its current policy and its implementation through the UN. We also urge France to acknowledge that the path it has encouraged the international community to follow has not been the best one.

A little self-examination and honesty would bring much benefit. It could lead to a successful peace process, avoiding further suffering for the Ivorian people, the further degradation of the country, and the potential of a major regional conflict affecting most of West Africa, while avoiding the waste of money that the current unsuccessful peace effort represents. It would also better serve the longer-term interests of outside powers such as France, and avoid embarrassing the UN.

DJCI once again calls for a close consideration of its own Peace Plan by the Security Council. Its main element being strong international support for a non-partisan transitional government made up of competent technocrats whose task would be to detoxify the Ivorian political atmosphere, foster national reconciliation in a spirit of inclusion, and reconstruct the institutions of the state. Only after this has been achieved would elections be a basis for sustainable peace, not before.  Insisting on premature elections, as is the goal of the present ONUCI-backed ‘peace process’ is not going to lead to success. 

It is high time to wake up and make the necessary corrections before it is too late.

Modeste SERI, President,

Diaspora et Jeunesse de Côte d’Ivoire (DJCI).

For further comment: Modeste Seri + 225 08586948 , movdjci@aol.com