S/PV.6014 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. After consultations among members of the Security Council, I have been authorized to make the following statement on behalf of the Council: “The Security Council takes note that, as mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General dated 14 October, the peace process has crossed a critical milestone with the launching of the identification and registration of voters operations on 15 September. It also however notes that the delays occurred since the launch of the identification and voter registration processes on 15 September have proven greater than expected. It takes note that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General indicated on the 27 October 2008 that, if the elections scheduled for the 30 November 2008 were delayed, they were likely to be delayed by several months, due mainly to some logistical difficulties. The Security Council expresses its deep concern about a possible third consecutive delay since the signature of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement, which could put at risk the entire Ivorian peace process. “The Security Council commends the Facilitator for convening a meeting of the permanent consultative framework on the 10 November 2008, in order for the Ivorian political actors to address all the main difficulties of the electoral process, and in particular with a view to finding an agreement on the new electoral time frame. It urges all the Ivorian political actors to cooperate fully with the Facilitator, with the support of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and to demonstrate their political determination to fulfil the commitments taken in the Ouagadougou agreement and in the framework of its follow-up mechanisms. “The Security Council further urges to this end the President of the Independent Electoral Commission, which is in charge of the organization of the elections, to share publicly this new timeline, including in particular the full rollout of the identification process and some other stages such as the publication of the provisional and final versions of the electoral list, the fabrication and distribution of the identity and voter’s cards and the date of the presidential election. It emphasizes that all political actors must pay a particular attention to the accumulating logistical delay. “The Security Council urges the Ivorian parties to take immediately and as a priority the concrete steps necessary to complete the identification and registration of voters operations in a credible and transparent manner before the end of January 2009. It expresses its determination to bring its full support to a credible electoral process in Côte d’Ivoire, on the understanding that the presidential elections will be organized before the end of spring 2009. The Security Council recalls that all political parties agreed to abide by the Code of Good Conduct for elections they signed under the auspices of the Secretary-General on the 23 April 2008. “The Security Council recalls that any threat to the electoral process in Côte d’Ivoire shall constitute a threat to the peace and national reconciliation process and it reaffirms its determination to impose, pursuant to resolutions 1572 (2004) and 1842 (2008), targeted measures against any person designated by its sanction Committee on Côte d’Ivoire to be responsible for these threats. The Security Council expresses its willingness to review the sanctions regime at the latest three months after the presidential elections. “The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to keep it informed of the evolution of the situation. It reaffirms its full support to the efforts of his Special Representative and his certification mandate, including the explicit certification of the electoral list. It expresses its intention to take the progress of the electoral process fully into consideration when it will review the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and the French forces which support it, before 31 January 2009.” This statement will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/PRST/2008/42. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.