DJCI and CUP-CI President on Ivory Coast Pretoria Agreements

New York, April 11, 2005

Modeste Seri, President of the Ivorian civil society organizations D.J.CI and CUP-CI† expressed his gratitude to South African President Mr. Thabo Mbeki for his recent intense efforts to get leaders of the Ivory Coast warring sides to sign a peace agreement.

It now remains to be seen to what extent the Ivorian politicians will respect the commitments they have made, especially given the contradictions between some of the promises they made.

The present reality in the Côte d’Ivoire is that the pursuit of narrow, self-serving policies of exclusion and of ethnic hatred, has severely damaged the social cohesion of the country. At the same time, the institutions of the state that protect the rule of law have been corrupted. To overcome these developments, a genuine reconciliation is needed.    “Can the same people that are guilty of creating the present tragedy of the country successfully achieve the deep change that is required to restore sustainable peace?” Mr. Seri asked.

Clearly, for the current politicians to be successful, more than the signature of a piece of paper in Pretoria/Tshwane is required. A profound change of heart, a sincere and honest approach to leadership, aimed at genuinely serving the needs of the people and ending the suffering is needed.    “Developments following the Pretoria Agreements give little confidence that this required change of heart has taken place”, Mr. Seri added.

The time would be right for an in-depth effort to correct the mistakes that have been committed in the past in the Côte d’Ivoire. Placing too high expectations on an agreement, which already is being interpreted in contradictory ways by its own signatories and their supporters, is not enough. 

Under these conditions, the search for a sustainable peace in the Côte d’Ivoire requires the ongoing support of the international community.  A strong UN-mandated peace building presence continues to be needed. To avoid a major tragedy, the UN together with regional organizations such as the African Union and ECOWAS, with the support of the European Union, for example, needs to keep a close involvement in the following phases of the Peace Process, as the DJCI/CUP-CI Peace Plan suggests.    

For further comment: Dr Juan Federer, CW/PS New York (1 212 5794206).

† D.J.CI is an umbrella organization bringing together Ivorian civil society groups. It was initiated by the Ivorean diáspora together with members of local Ivorean better-educated youth. CUP-CI is a fast-growing citizen movement in the Ivory Coast. Both are committed to total ethnic and religious inclusiveness. They aim to: (1) end the current artificially generated political violence, and (2) educate the population about the changes needed to develop a genuine democracy based on national unity.