S/PV.6584 Security Council

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

At the outset, I would like to convey my delegation’s congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of July. The Ivorian delegation is pleased to participate in this debate on the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, which demonstrates the international community’s great interest in my country. My delegation takes this opportunity to congratulate the Secretary-General on the excellent report contained in document S/2011/387, which serves as the basic document for our discussions. The official investiture on 21 May in Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Côte d’Ivoire, of His Excellency Mr. Alassane Ouattara, which formally gave him full powers as President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, represents the official return to constitutional order in Côte d’Ivoire after 10 years of military and socio-political crisis and five months of post-electoral crisis, whose human cost was estimated at 3,000 deaths. Those crises ended with the arrest of the former President, who had obstinately refused to peacefully give up the power that he had lost in the vote. Today Côte d’Ivoire is gradually returning to normal life. A new Government has been formed that includes all political entities with the exception of the Front populaire ivoirien, the party formerly in power, which has refused to participate. The Government set to work immediately, emphasizing the search for effectiveness. During a governmental seminar held on 5 and 6 July and chaired by the head of State himself, the Government laid out a framework for action based on 14 strategic points, which also represent our challenges. The President’s programme d’urgence, as it is called, unites six-month short-term plans of action for each sector in one overall framework, to which all Government ministers will contribute their responses and optimal solutions to the immediate needs of the people, who have been so painfully affected by these years of crisis. The Government’s assessment of the country’s general situation and those conducted by the various United Nations missions and our partners all point to the necessity for understanding the numerous challenges that confront us and that must be tackled speedily in order not to lose the momentum gained from the current normalization. Progress must be made on the following fronts: stabilizing the security situation; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR); security sector reform; national reconciliation; the humanitarian situation; the human rights situation; organizing elections; and economic recovery. As far as stabilizing the security situation is concerned, generally speaking, we can be pleased with some areas of genuine progress, particularly removing all lawless checkpoints; the complete re-establishment of the police and gendarmerie, despite enormous equipment and material problems; and an increase in mixed patrols that include forces from the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), helping to reassure the people. However, despite that progress, serious concerns persist over the situation in the country’s western region, mainly in the area bordering Liberia, where activity has been observed by militias and mercenaries associated with the pro-Gbagbo former Forces de defense et de sécurité. In that regard, my delegation welcomes the Council’s decision, based on resolution 1992 (2011), which brings forward to 30 September 2011 the redeployment to UNOCI of three armed helicopters and their teams from the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Similarly, we are pleased with the summit of Mano River Union heads of State held yesterday in Monrovia, which was attended by Presidents Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and Alpha Condé of Guinea. The leaders reiterated their desire for closer cooperation in order to strengthen peace and security in the subregion. My delegation therefore seeks increased support from UNOCI and the French Operation Licorne force for the efforts by the Forces républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI) to stabilize the security situation, since there is no doubt that command of the security situation is essential to successfully achieving the other goals necessary to normalizing the situation as a whole. With regard to DDR, the reunification of the army under the single umbrella of the New Army of the FRCI is now a reality. A workshop has been organized to instruct the New Army’s personnel and soldiers in the values of unity, cohesion, republican morality and the principles of respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. We expect to see other initiatives of this type, aimed at inculcating a genuine culture of respect for international humanitarian law and human rights. We have seen the integration of 11,000 troops into the New Army, of whom 8,700 are former members of the Forces armées des Forces nouvelles, in accordance with the Ouagadougou Agreements, and 2,300 associated with the FRCI. With regard to disarmament, progress appears slow, due to the complexity of the process. However, UNOCI continues to encourage the voluntary surrender of weapons held by unauthorized persons. We were very pleased to see that, in Yopougon on 15 July, about 100 people surrendered light weapons, grenades and ammunition to UNOCI under an operation conducted by the Mission’s division for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. My delegation therefore hopes for continued support from UNOCI and our partners for the DDR programme, and certainly, as indicated in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2011/387), for the establishment of a new DDR programme adapted to the new situation. With regard to security sector reform and the maintenance of law and order, the lack of equipment, particularly handguns, is seriously affecting the effectiveness of the police and gendarmerie, which, as I mentioned, are now fully functioning again. The entire handgun arsenal for the forces of law and order in Côte d’Ivoire stands at the ridiculous total of 15 pistols. That is why my delegation is seeking approval from the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1572 (2004), in accordance with paragraph 8 (e) that resolution, for the authorization to import handguns to quip our national police and gendarmerie personnel. By the same reasoning, we ask that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations speed up the return to the Ministry of the Interior of arms collected by UNOCI from Ivorian weapons stocks. It is understood that such returns must be based on a coherent plan that includes the registering and marking of the weapons. The situation regarding the physical infrastructure of the judiciary is a serious concern. Seventeen of 37 courts were looted and 23 out of 33 prisons vandalized. That is why my delegation fully subscribes to the spirit of the report’s recommendation for setting up and implementing a multi-year shared aid programme for the justice sector with the aim of strengthening police services, the judicial apparatus and the penal system, and improving access to justice in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as for initial emergency reconstruction of the relevant infrastructure and equipment supplies, taking into account the assistance given by other partners in those areas. In the area of national reconciliation things are also gradually falling into place. The basic framework of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been established by ministerial council decree. The Chair of the Commission, former Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, has begun intensive consultations at all social, professional and even ethnic levels. In that context, I was able to be witness to a meeting held last Saturday in Abidjan between Mr. Banny and the traditional heads of former President Gbagbo’s native region. I myself was able to talk briefly with them at that meeting, where they expressed their confidence in Mr. Banny and their optimism about the reconciliation process, which, they said, was already beginning to ease tensions in their region. For Mr. Banny, it is important that the Ivorian people themselves take ownership of the process, bringing to it their sensibilities and our shared traditional values. That is why he hopes that, after all necessary consultations have been held, we will observe a major period of mourning in order to honour the memory of all those who perished. Such mourning, grounded in our traditions, will to some degree prepare the way for fostering truth in dialogue. However, the Chair of the Commission is not minimizing the difficulties that are arising concerning the availability of the means, particularly the financial means, needed to achieve the success of an effort of such scope. The Commission will be undertaking information missions in South Africa, Morocco and Rwanda to take advantage of their experiences. My delegation seeks the help of UNOCI and the Commission’s partners in the areas of expertise, financing, capacity-building, devising and financing of a communication plan and every other relevant form of support. With regard to the humanitarian situation, of the 200,000 displaced persons and refugees, 60,000 have returned to their homes. Some 140,000 remain, mainly in refugee camps on the Liberian border. The pace of return is slow, due to the lack of sufficient means to address their needs. We have occasionally been helped by individual private initiatives in repatriating whole groups. In that connection, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Commerce, Mr. Dagobert Banzio, who is a native of the Liberian border region, organized the repatriation of 5,000 refugees at his own expense. My delegation is seeking a substantial increase in international assistance for aid to Ivorian refugees, and agrees with the recommendation in the report indicating the necessity for support for the establishment of a national humanitarian coordination structure, which would, in particular, ensure a unified assessment of needs and of the deployment of humanitarian entities, as well as of follow-up to efforts on the ground. With regard to the health and sanitation situation, my delegation reminds the Council that during the most turbulent time of the crisis, President Ouattara launched a free health care programme for the most neglected sector of the population, in particular women and children. This programme has been operating since March and has cost the Government $10 million per month, equivalent to 4.1 billion CFA francs per month. This programme will later be taken over by a self- sustaining medical coverage system. I here and now make an urgent request to all partners to support this programme, which helps in the fight against poverty, and I invite charitable organizations and the major philanthropic organizations to support this initiative. The human rights situation in Côte d’Ivoire is rooted in the culture of impunity that marked the 10 years of power of the regime of former President Gbagbo. It is also important to note that it was under that regime that female protestors who were arrested and detained in October 2000 in areas surrounding the police academy were raped by law enforcement personnel. At that time, a high-ranking member of the regime made a comment completely lacking in compassion that remains a sad part of the collective Ivoirian memory. He said, “They should have not gone out to demonstrate”. It was also under that regime that a famous foreign journalist was killed in cold blood in public by a policeman, who was hailed as a hero by a club formed in his support and on T-shirts bearing his image. I also recall that it was under that regime that an investigative journalist researching the coffee and cocoa industry disappeared and has still not been found. He was last seen with a person who was close to the former First Lady. With regard to the former regime, all of the atrocities and massive human rights violations suffered by the population over the past 10 years were in the normal order of things. We can easily understand why there were 3,000 victims during the five months of post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. I note and reaffirm that President Ouattara and his Government have inherited a lawless State of impunity where everything must be reconstructed. That is why we created the Ministry for Human Rights and Civil Rights within the current Government, whose goals are, among others, first, to reform the security sector in line with international norms; secondly, ensure that human and civil rights are perceived as a civic duty and instil a culture of forgiveness so that the internally displaced and refugees may return to their homes; thirdly, make the courts more accessible pursuant to the Ivoirian Code of Civil Procedure; and fourthly, align national legislation with international norms. With respect to the detention conditions for politicians of the former regime who are under house arrest, I can assure the Council that they are in no way being treated in an inhuman or degrading fashion. I returned from Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday after having spent two weeks there. During that time, I met with the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Human Rights and the Minister of the Interior. The allegations that have been made are based on no valid or irrefutable evidence. The Minister of Human Rights visited one of the detention centres as I was leaving Côte d’Ivoire. I take this opportunity to reaffirm once again the determination of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Alassane Ouattara, to work resolutely to ensure respect for human rights in Côte d’Ivoire and the emergence and strengthening of a State based on respect for the rule of law and transparency and that will fight to end impunity. My delegation would therefore ask that the Government’s efforts to promote a culture that respects human rights be substantially supported by UNOCI. With regard to legislative elections, we must now move to the second phase of the electoral process, in particular for the legislative elections, as provided for in the Ouagadougou Political Agreement. In that respect, my Government seeks the support and logistical and technical aid of UNOCI. The electoral process is part of a whole, and my delegation requests that the certification role of the United Nations be maintained, taking into account, of course, the specificities of the legislative elections. There is no reason why a demonstrably valuable process that has enabled us to affirm the respect of the people should not be maintained. Therefore, we reiterate and insist on the ongoing certification role of UNOCI. Furthermore, the composition of the Independent Electoral Commission will of course be adapted to take recent changes into account. There too, the Government wishes it to remain representative and inclusive in order to guarantee the credibility of the electoral process. We would ask UNOCI to continue to support the entire process, as it did during the presidential elections, at all stages. With regard to the economic situation, the economy of Côte d’Ivoire was derailed in the post- electoral phase, but it retains a firm foundation and shows potential for recovery that only requires reconstruction to begin in order to take off. In the short-term, however, the creation of revenue- generating jobs, particularly for young people and women, will be indispensable to ensuring harmonious transition towards major agro-industry and infrastructure projects that can bring major growth. My delegation hopes for increased funding through UNOCI’s quick-impact project in order to stabilize that transition. In conclusion, from its perspective of building peace, my Government has welcomed the majority of the relevant recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General before us. The report stresses the compelling need for the international community to continue to help Côte d’Ivoire. We must avoid obstacles that could undermine the efforts and everything that has been achieved at such a high cost. During my audience with President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan before I returned, the President asked me to convey to the members of the Council the hopes that Côte d’Ivoire entertains with respect to UNOCI and Operation Licorne over the next 12 months. Côte d’Ivoire requires a substantial and robust peacekeeping operation to consolidate its restored yet fragile peace. Côte d’Ivoire will do everything possible to build its own capacities to fully guarantee its own security as soon as possible, but for the moment we must recognize that we will not succeed without the help of the United Nations. That is why the mandates of UNOCI and of Operation Licorne must be extended. That support and assistance are indispensable as the Government implements its goal of putting the country back onto the path of progress for the next 12 months.

There are no further speakers inscribed on my list. I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.