Highlight

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UNOCI and Licorne Play Friendly
Match Against Ivorian Security Forces

Gala Soccer Match to Promote Peace

On Saturday 27 December two gala football matches
were organized at the Robert Champroux stadium in Marcory, Abidjan. The first
match, which lasted for one hour, was a friendly between the FDS-CI and the
Forces Armées des Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) against UNOCI military contingents and
the French Licorne forces. The match was dedicated to peace. The Presidents of
the Ivoirian Football Federation and the African Federation were both in
attendance, and the Peace Trophy was presented by the President of the Ivoirian
Federation. Though UNOCI and Licorne fielded an experienced and fit team, they
lost to the national security forces by two points. The final score was 4 to 2.
The match was well attended with a large number of military personnel from the
FDS, the FAFN, UNOCI, and Licorne, and an enthusiastic general public. The
competition was also broadcast live on the first channel of the national
television RTI. Following this gala match for peace, a second match, pitting
Ivorian players against an all-star African team, was played.

Promoting Peace and Through Sports in 2009

In the framework of the preparation of the African
Nations Championship, which will be held in Côte d'Ivoire from February 22^nd
to March 29^th   2009 and will be used also as a vehicle to promote
peace, a high-level delegation from the Football African Confederation (FAC)
visited on December 27^th the Sector East ONUCI Headquarters to pay a
courtesy call to the UN Mission Regional representatives and also visit the
ONUCI Hospital with a view to assessing the level of its infrastructures and
medical facilities. The delegation visited the UNOCI hospital under the
management of military and medical personnel from Ghana (GHANMED).

Security

Armed elements of the Forces Armées des Forces
Nouvelles (FAFN), said to be members of the Zone 3 Military Area (Bouaké),
staged a peaceful demonstration in central Bouaké on December 27^th.
Sources from the FAFN indicated the demonstration was organized in protest to
the deployment in Bouaké, over the last days, of reinforcement troops from the
FAFN Bouna Military Zone (North-East) with the view to strengthening the
security force in Bouaké. FAFN elements in Bouaké considered it "inappropriate"
to bring reinforcements as they considered that they were up to the task. The
demonstration, which was monitored closely by UNOCI, was peaceful.

Ends