Highlights

 

• 
  
  
• Sensitisation
  campaign on treasury centralization starts today in Bouaké

Identification
operation paralysed by strike

 

Redeployment of
administration

 

A
two-week sensitization campaign to inform the population on the centralization
of the state treasury and its impact on day-to-day living starts today in
Bouaké. The announcement was made yesterday by Mr Moussa Dosso, Minister of
Vocational Teaching, in his capacity as Economic Adviser of the Forces Nouvelles
and member of the Technical Committee on the "Reunification of Finances".  Mr.
Dosso indicated that the rehabilitation of the offices to host the various new
services as well as the training of finance and customs officers from the Forces
Nouvelles would be undertaken during this "phase one period".  Also in Bouaké
yesterday, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Mr. Mamadou Koné,
officially announced the redepolyment of the judiciary to the centre, west and
north of the country. He also said that a number of prisons and offices for the
judiciary had been rehabilitated with the help of the international community
and called on the population of the Vallée du Bandama region to warmly welcome
the redeployed civil servants.

 

Electoral process

 

UNOCI electoral staff have reported very little activity in many identification
centres around the country despite an appeal from the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) to agents to resume work while the payment of salaries is being
sorted out.  Agents from the National Institute of Statistics went on strike at
the beginning of the week, protesting against the non-payment of their salaries
and allowances. Meanwhile, the IEC has reported that about 25 centres were
closed in Bouaké yesterday, while in Vavoua (centre west), only five centres
were operational out of a total of 36. The identification operation was also
suspended in Yamoussoukro and Abengourou due to the strike.
However, it was reported that the IEC had started paying the salaries of
supervisors at centers in the Daloa and Bouafle areas (centre west).

 

Arms embargo  

 

UNOCI peacekeepers yesterday successfully carried out
arms embargo inspections at the Armed Forces of Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) Zone 4
Unit in Morondo, near Séguéla, (centre-west) and at its unit in Gbeya, near
Odienné (north) as well as at the Defence and Security Forces of Cote d'Ivoire's
regrouping site in Abengourou (east and its Air Detachment Unit and gendarmerie
brigade in Yamoussoukro (centre).

 

 

 

Humanitarian

 

Internally displaced persons (IDPs), who had been
prevented from returning to their plantations by residents in Zeaglo (west),
have now resettled in camps which they were forced to leave during the civil
war. According to the sub-prefect, security measures will be taken to protect
returning IDPs, who are mostly people from other parts of Côte d'Ivoire and
immigrants from neighbouring countries.

 

A
youth cultural centre and an HIV testing unit, financed by UNOCI under the Quick
Impact Project (QIP) programme, were yesterday inaugurated in the western city
of Bloléquin. In a colourful ceremony held in the town, local authorities as
well as the representative of communities praised UNOCI's action and committed
themselves to work to bring peace in the region.

 

Human Rights

 

The Regional Human Rights Office in Bouaké is following up the case of a man who
was arrested on 10 January 2009 in the Angoua-Tanokro neighbourhood in Bouaké by
FAFN soldiers in place of his cousin who is accused of involvement in an armed
robbery.