S/PV.4918 Security Council

The Security Council will now continue its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them the report of the Secretary-General on Côte d’Ivoire, document S/2004/3 and addenda 1 and 2. Members of the Council also have before them document S/2004/146, which contains the text of a draft resolution prepared in the Council’s prior consultations. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. Unless I hear any objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now. There being no objection, it is so decided.

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 1528 (2004). I give the floor to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan.

I would like to commend members of the Security Council for adopting this resolution in support of the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire. Côte d’Ivoire has come a long way from the crisis that erupted in September 2002. The conclusion of the Linas-Marcoussis peace Agreement in January 2003 was an important achievement. Most of last year, progress in the peace process was mixed, with many delays in implementing the Agreement. Just recently, however, the Ivorian parties have taken some further significant steps in the right direction. (spoke in English) I am particularly encouraged that last December the parties completed the quartering of heavy weapons, as verified by the international community, including the United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire. The lifting of checkpoints established by the Forces armées nationales de Côte d’Ivoire and the Forces nouvelles is also close to completion. In addition, the parties have recently agreed on arrangements to implement the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation (DDR) programme. Prime Minister Diarra has announced that the programme would start on 8 March. Another positive development since the return of the Forces nouvelles to the Government of National Reconciliation on 6 January is that the Council of Ministers has begun considering the draft legislation and other reforms envisaged in the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. I would like to commend President Gbagbo and Prime Minister Diarra for taking, together with the Forces nouvelles, important political initiatives which have opened the way out of the impasse in the peace process. I urge them to continue working together. However, there are some hard-line elements among the various Ivorian parties that remain determined to undermine the peace process. They must not be allowed to succeed. The international community must therefore provide support to those who are working to promote peace in Côte d’Ivoire. In that context, I would like to commend in particular the Economic Community of West African States and France, which have contributed significantly to the normalization of the situation in the country. Their forces continue to play a crucial role in monitoring the ceasefire and preventing the resumption of conflict. In my report of 6 January to the Security Council (S/2004/3), I recommended the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Côte d’Ivoire. The establishment of such an operation, which has been requested by all Ivorian parties, will send a clear message that the international community supports the Ivorian peace process and is determined to play its role in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa. A strengthened United Nations presence in Côte d’Ivoire will make it easier for the Government of National Reconciliation to implement the DDR programme. It will also facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance and the restoration of State authority throughout the country, contribute to the promotion of human rights and the re-establishment of the rule of law and help the country prepare for the holding of fair and transparent general elections in 2005. I trust that, for their part, the Ivorian parties will continue to push forward, in a consensual manner, the political reforms they have embarked upon, in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the Linas- Marcoussis Agreement. There is no doubt that the deployment of a United Nations operation in Côte d’Ivoire will also have a positive impact on the efforts to stabilize the West African subregion as a whole. I am particularly pleased that the various United Nations offices and missions in the subregion have already begun to work in close cooperation. Every effort must be done to strengthen that cooperation. In that context, I intend to present proposals concerning a residual United Nations presence in Sierra Leone in my next report to the Security Council, in March. The operation in Côte d’Ivoire comes at a time when other United Nations and non-United Nations operations, either recently established or expected in the near future, require significant additional resources. But I hope and trust that, guided by a spirit of solidarity, the international community will provide all the necessary resources, including well-equipped and well-trained military and police personnel, for the operation to be fully effective. The progress made by the Ivorian parties in recent weeks has given fresh impetus to the peace process. The adoption of this resolution shows that the international community is determined to support that progress and to help ensure that there is no turning back.

I thank the Secretary-General for his statement. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will remain seized of the matter.