Highlights

- SRSG meets counterpart in Liberia to discuss inter-mission cooperation
- IDPs refuse to leave Guiglo centre after official closure

Political

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, visited Monrovia, Liberia on 24 August 2008, where he held talks with his counterpart, Mrs Ellen Margrethe Løj, on inter-mission cooperation. The two Special Representatives reviewed issues of common interest and how UNOCI and the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) can work together to ensure security on the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, during the Ivorian electoral period. They were scheduled to proceed to Guinea Bissau to attend the 14th meeting of the heads of UN peacekeeping missions in West Africa, which begins today.

Demonstrations suspended

Ex-combatants of the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles, who demonstrated in Bouaké throughout last week, have decided to suspend their protest until 10 October 2008. In a statement addressed to Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, the ex-combatants make several demands, including that each of them be paid 5 million FCFA, which they say represents their salaries over a six-year period – the duration of the Ivorian crisis. They also demanded three payments of 90,000 FCFA and financial compensation for those who died during the war as well as identity cards for all over them before elections.

Security

One person was killed during an attack by armed bandits on 22 August 2008, along the Bangolo-Logoualé road, about 5 km from Bangolo (west). According to eyewitnesses, robbers armed with a Kalashnikov, a 12 calibre shotgun, emerged from the bush and opened fire on a bus bound for Facobly, with 61 passengers on board, before puncturing the tyres and breaking the windscreen of the vehicle. Passengers were then searched and stripped off their money and valuables, such as mobile phones and jewellery.

IDPs

Following the official closure of the Temporary Assistance Centre for Displaced Persons in Guiglo (west), the Protection Working Group, comprising UN agencies working in the area, has reported that displaced people from the Tiombly area, near Toulépleu (west) are still at the Centre because members of the indigenous community are opposed to their return to the villages. Meanwhile, some internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Zéaglo area, near Bloléquin (west), who had gone back to their villages but could not recover their farms, have therefore returned to the Centre. In addition to these two groups, there is a third group which refuses to leave the Centre because they want to migrate to the USA. The Protection Working Group has formed committees to listen to those remaining at the Centre. The Group said that although there is some justification for some of those who refuse to leave the Centre, life could become very difficult for them as the International Migration Organisation no longer has a budget to help them. The World Food Programme has also stopped its operations because the Centre is officially closed.

Arms embargo

UNOCI peacekeepers, on 22 August 2008, successfully carried out two arms embargo inspections at the Gendarmerie School in Toroguhe, near Daloa (centre west) and at the 2nd Infantry Battalion in Daloa.

Human Rights

The Human Rights Office and the Child Protection Unit in Odienné (north) held a working session with members of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) from Man (west), to discuss strategies to ensure that as many children as possible under the age of 13 from the Denguélé and Bafing regions are able to obtain their birth certificates through a programme established by the IRC and the Platform of Six NGOs in Odienné. At a sensitization session on the registration of children at birth, organized by the Platform of NGOs and IRC on 21 August 2008, the Human Rights Office briefed the participants, which included village chiefs, religious leaders and representatives of women and youth organizations, on the rights of the child. The first phase of the programme would allow 814 children to obtain their birth certificates.

On 21 August 2008, the Regional Human Rights Office in Daloa conducted basic human rights training for 28 members of the Association Génération Nouvelle du Quartier Belleville, as part of a youth sensitization programme initiated by the Office in Daloa.

The Regional Human Rights Office in Duekoué held a working session with officials of the Centre d'Excellence des Femmes de Man, a centre, which promotes the work of women's organizations in the 18 Montagnes Region. During the meeting, joint activities were planned to raise awareness regarding the importance of women's organizations in the region and their contribution to the consolidation of peace as well as their role in the forthcoming elections.