Highlights

- SRSG Choi discusses electoral process with President Gbagbo;
- Electoral officials conduct mission to Korhogo.

Identification/Electoral process

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, on Tuesday reaffirmed the commitment of the Force of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) to help provide security for the electoral process. Speaking after a meeting with Ivorian Head of State Laurent Gbagbo at his residence in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Cocody, Mr Choi stressed that the ongoing process was irreversible. "The elections are at hand," he told the press, recalling the "significant strategic advances" registered in areas such as the legal, financial and technical domains. Describing as historic the identification operation - launched about a month ago - that will enable millions of Ivorians to obtain identity papers, he said it was now necessary to face up to the last challenges, which relate mainly to logistics and security.

A team of officials from the Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) at UN Headquarters in New York, UNOCI's Electoral Assistance Division and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) visited Korhogo on Tuesday 14 October within the framework of a mission to evaluate the electoral process in Côte d'Ivoire. The team, which travelled on Friday to Man, is led by Tadjoudine Ali-Diabacte, Deputy Director of EAD-New York, and includes Lare-Lantone Kango (UNDP), Ricardo Alejandro Philion, EAD-New York Desk officer for Cote d'Ivoire and UNOCI Electoral Operations Coordinator Ambroise Dzondhault.

At the request of Special Representative Choi, UNOCI's electoral office in Bouake, in partnership with Civil Affairs, is identifying schools in Bouake that will serve as polling stations and which face electricity supply problems. The idea is to support these schools through UNOCI's Quick Impact Projects.

Security

Following recent reports of banditry around the northern town of Boundiali, the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI)'s force and military observers have intensified patrols in the region.

Humanitarian

BANBATT carried out medical outreach in the village of Lazakro (located some 15km south of Yamoussoukro) on 12 October, providing free medical treatment to 250 villagers

On 10 October, the Regional Human Rights Office in Bondoukou visited the civilian prison in the eastern town to assess detention conditions there. The 248 inmates in the prison at the time of the visit included two women and five minors. The Office noted that a high number of detainees had contracted diseases such as tuberculosis in prison.