Highlights

- SRSG attends Monitoring and Evaluation Committee meeting in Burkina Faso
- President Laurent Gbagbo to visit Séguéla and Vavoua
- Fifth phase of DDR starts today in Kani

Political

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi is today attending a meeting of the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which was expected to discuss the financing of the end of crisis process in Côte d'Ivoire.

Séguéla and Vavoua

Preparations are under way for President Laurent Gbagbo's visit to Séguéla and Vavoua, where ex-combatants of the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) staged violent demonstrations on 28 June 2008. Although no official announcement has been made, the President is expected in the two western towns on Monday, 14 July 2008. Patrols by Ivorian security forces have been noticeably intensified along the Daloa-Vavoua-Séguéla road. Meanwhile, a new FAFN Company Commander has been appointed in Vavoua. He will report directly to the Acting Zone Commander, Major Issiaka Ouattara, who took over following the sacking of the former Zone Commander, Koné Zacharia. One of the demands of the FAFN insurgents in Séguéla was the return of the former Zone Commander. This demand was flatly refused by the FAFN hierarchy.

DDR/DDM

The fifth phase of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process is expected to start today in Kani, near Séguéla (west). Meanwhile, the Integrated Command Centre (ICC) in Yamoussoukro is meeting militias leaders from the centre west of the country today in connection with the launch of the disarmament and dismantling of militias (DDM) process. The meeting will be attended by representatives of the Impartial Forces, the National Programme for Reinsertion and Community Rehabilitation (PNRRC) and the Civic Service. A similar meeting will be held for militias from the south on 14 July 2008. A sensitization programme on DDM is due to start on 22 July 2008.

Security

Residents in Dinégouine, a Yacouba village near Logoualé (west), yesterday told a UNOCI patrol they feared a violent conflict could start with their Guéré neighbours who live in the Bangolo area. According to them, Young Patriots behave badly towards them when passing through the village on their way to Logoualé. They accuse the villagers of being FAFN supporters. The villagers said that the accusation was ridiculous since they were victims of extortion by the same FAFN soldiers. They asked that UNOCI take charge of the security situation by carrying out frequent patrols in the vicinity.

Arms Embargo

UNOCI peacekeepers yesterday successfully carried out arms embargo inspections at the Defence and Security Forces of Cote d'Ivoire's (FDSCI) Gendarmerie Mobile Intervention Brigade in Sinfra (centre) and Agban in Abidjan, at Divo Gendarmerie (south), at the Gendarmerie Brigade in Soubre (south), as well as at the FAFN's units in Danipleu (west) and Tengrela (north) and its 66th battalion camp in Danané (west).

Redeployment of administration

The Sous Préfet of Brobo prefecture, near Bouaké, which was recently handed back to the State by Forces Nouvelles authorities yesterday, asked for the Regional Civil Affairs Office's assistance to rehabilitate its offices, which were previously occupied by the Mission's Pakistani Contingent and the Force Licorne.