- The UN Security Council has appealed for concerted efforts towards the publication of the final voter’s list ahead of the much delayed national polls scheduled for 29 November.
The 15-member body has urged Ivorian parties to set aside their differences in the spirit of reconciliation and dialogue. Over 6.5 million Ivorians have been identified and registered by the electoral body for elections.
The Council stressed its support for the Ouagadougou Agreement, the 2007 blueprint for political reconciliation in the West African country which has been divided since 2002 between the Government-held south and a northern area dominated by the rebel Forces Nouvelles.
Viet Nam’s Ambassador Le Luong Minh said the Council has also agreed that the long-term peace, stability and development of Côte d’Ivoire was also dependent on the balanced and comprehensive settlement of many other security, socio-economic and cross-border challenges.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Young-Jin Choi said unlike other peacekeeping operations around the world, including those in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) does not plan elections.
Earlier this month, Young-Jin Choi warned that technical difficulties may adversely affect the timeline for the country’s long-awaited presidential elections, which were to have been held as far back as 2005.
The head of the UNOCI, said that two months have already been lost, but noted that some successful political developments, such as the establishment of mobile court hearings across the country and the end of voter registration.
The Ivorian polls have stalled since October 2005 due to a division between the rebel north and government-controlled south, separated by a buffer zone patrolled by UN and French peacekeepers.
In May the former Ivorian rebels also called on their leader, Guillaume Soro, to quit the prime minister’s post and distance himself from the government, after accusing the government of stalling the processes leading to elections as prescribed in the peace agreement in 2007.
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