S/PV.6263 Security Council

In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Choi Young-Jin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. It is so decided. I invite Mr. Choi to take a seat at the Council table. 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. I wish to draw the attention of the members of the Council to document S/2010/15, which contains the twenty-third progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. At this meeting, the Security Council will hear a briefing by Mr. Choi Young-Jin, to whom I give the floor. Mr. Choi: Since my last briefing to the Security Council, in September 2009 (see S/PV.6168), the Ivorian electoral process has made remarkable progress in a peaceful environment. The data processing of voter registration for around 6.3 million people was successfully completed in November. This resulted in the publication of the provisional electoral list by the Independent Electoral Commission on 23 November, with about 5.3 million persons confirmed and around 1 million persons remaining to be confirmed. This provisional list was well balanced, credible and consensually agreed by the major Ivorian political protagonists. The appeals process launched on 24 November 2009, which allowed the non-traced persons to have their status verified, was completed on 9 January 2010. It resulted in over 500,000 additional persons being traced. This should provide the basis of a definitive electoral list of 5.8 million people. However, a contentious problem emerged unexpectedly regarding the appeals process as the Independent Electoral Commission cross-checked the 1 million non-traced persons and produced a second list of 429,000 traced people. A controversy arose regarding this semi-official second list. The Independent Electoral Commission explains that this list has been created purely for the internal consumption of the Commission’s 31 regional supervisors. The presidential camp contests this explanation, saying that this semi-official list has been used to distort the official appeals process. The dispute surrounding the second list of 429,000 persons is yet to be resolved. It may take several weeks before the electoral process gains speed again. The United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) will do its utmost with the Ouagadougou Political Agreement protagonists, especially with the Office of the Facilitator, with a view to minimizing the delay and establishing the definitive electoral list as soon as possible. Once the definitive electoral list is established as planned, in February 2010, only three additional steps in six weeks are needed to arrive at the presidential election. The first step requires two weeks for the production of around 6 million identity cards and 5.8 million voters’ cards. The second step requires two weeks for the distribution of these cards and the transportation of electoral material to about 10,000 voting sites. The third and final step will require two weeks for the official presidential campaign. This timetable would still lead us to spring 2010 for the presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire. Beyond the current dispute on the electoral list, there is one possible obstacle to this electoral timetable, which is the issue of the country’s reunification. In terms of the fourth supplementary agreement to the Ouagadougou Political Agreement, which is known as Ouaga IV, signed in December 2008, a de facto reunification is to be completed two months prior to the presidential election. The progress in this regard has been very slow. Yet all of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement protagonists have so far taken the position that the lack of progress on the reunification issue should not hamper the electoral process. In the meantime, in the security domain, President Laurent Gbagbo and President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso jointly proposed the deployment of a 500-man-strong Burkinabé battalion during a three-month electoral period within the framework of UNOCI’s military contingent. UNOCI deems that this proposal deserves to be supported. In conclusion, if solutions are to be found on the issues of the second electoral list and of reunification, we shall finally have the long-awaited presidential election in spring 2010.

I thank Mr. Choi for his briefing. I now give the floor to the representative of Côte d’Ivoire.

I would like to take the opportunity of the presentation of the twenty-third progress report of the Secretary- General on the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (S/2010/15) to share with the Council the latest developments in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement. However, first allow me to express, on behalf of the Ivorian Government and the people, our most heartfelt condolences to the families of the United Nations personnel who were killed last week in the earthquake that has devastated Haiti. I would particularly like to evoke the memory of Mr. Hédi Annabi, who did so much to restore peace in Côte d’Ivoire. During all those years, he contributed significantly to the success of the Ivorian peace process. Allow me also to express the compassion of the Ivorian authorities to all troop-contributing States that have lost men and women in that tragedy. Finally, allow me to express once again our greatest sympathies to the Haitian Government and people and to assure them of our solidarity in their terrible ordeal. Moreover, the Ivorian Government has decided to donate $1 million. That gesture is the Ivorian contribution to the chain of international solidarity for Haiti. As noted in the report of the Secretary-General, the overall situation in Côte d’Ivoire remains stable and significant progress was made during the last quarter of 2009. The publication of the provisional electoral list, the launch of the election appeals period, and the validation of candidates for the presidential election confirm the success of the process to end the crisis. Ivorians are keen to go to the elections, but I would like to make it clear that they are keen to go to transparent and credible elections. For the Ivorian Government, conditions conducive to holding a transparent and fair presidential election are linked to drawing up a credible electoral list above all suspicion, and also to organizing the vote in a secure environment. Concerning the electoral list, the news in Côte d’Ivoire has of late been marked case of fraud by the President of the Independent Electoral Commission. In that regard, it must be said that it is true that the President of the Independent Electoral Commission acted irregularly, which has cast doubt over that body and rightly resulted in denunciations and appeals for greater control of its activities. That is why Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, after consulting all Ivorian political parties and the Facilitator, President Blaise Compaoré, has established a monitoring committee responsible for strengthening the Commission’s capacities and for restoring the confidence of Ivorians in that body, which has a central and leading role in the process of ending the crisis. This incident, taking place in the course of the final phase of the electoral process, may obviously give rise to a minor disruption of the timetable adopted at Ouagadougou on 3 December 2009 for the holding of the presidential election. All these efforts would be wasted if the presidential election were to take place in an insecure environment. To that end, and to mitigate the low numbers of Blue Helmets and mixed brigades of the Integrated Command Centre, President Laurent Gbagbo and the Facilitator for direct dialogue, President Blaise Compaoré, have requested the prompt deployment of a military contingent from Burkina Faso. That request has been submitted to the Security Council, with the favourable recommendation of the Secretary-General. Those troops will take part in securing the electoral process and will be under a United Nations mandate for three months. Through me, the Ivorian Government requests the support of the Security Council for the effective deployment of that contingent. I wish to conclude my remarks by reiterating that the Ivorians are certainly eager to go to the elections but not to any election, in particular not an election that would bring them back to square one, that is to say, another conflict. The Ivorians are eager to go to transparent and credible elections with a reliable electoral list, in accordance with the certification criteria set by the United Nations. That is what the Prime Minister is resolutely and swiftly seeking to do, with the support of the Facilitator, and for which the support of the Security Council is required.

There are no further speakers inscribed on my list. In accordance with the understanding reached in the course of the Council’s prior consultations, I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion of the subject.