Highlights

- Peace and stability have returned to Côte d'Ivoire, SRSG tells UNSC
- Volunteer teachers prepare to strike in Moyen Cavally region

Political

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, told the UN Security Council yesterday that peace and stability have largely returned to Côte d'Ivoire. Mr. Choi was speaking at a meeting to discuss the renewal of the mandate of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire. He said that this positive development would allow the council to reduce the number of its troops by one battalion. The Special Representative also highlighted the progress made in the identification and voter registration operation, during which more than 3,500,000 people have already been identified.

Restoration of state authority

Volunteer teachers in the Moyen Cavally region are planning to go on a three-day strike to draw attention to their demands to be officially absorbed as staff by the Ministry of Education. Members of the "Collectif des Enseignants volontaires des Régions du Moyen Cavally et des Montagnes" claim they have been ignored while their counterparts in areas under Forces Nouvelles control are about to be recruited. The strike is scheduled to start on 2 February 2009.

Security

A reconnaissance flight was yesterday conducted by BANBATT along the Guinean border with the aim of securing the area in the aftermath of the military coup in Guinea and the subsequent political tension in the country. The recce was conducted in conjunction with day domination patrols. The situation was found normal and no unusual movements were detected along the border.

Arms embargo

UNOCI peacekeepers carried out arms embargo inspections at the Armed Forces of Forces Nouvelles' (FAFN) 52nd battalion in Séguéla (centre-west), at its 62nd battalion in Man (west), at its checkpoints in Sémien (west), as well as at the Defence and Security Forces of Côte d'Ivoire's gendarmerie brigades in Fresco, near Gagnoa (centre-west), and Koun Fao, near Bondoukou (east).

Human Rights

The Regional Human Rights Office in Bondoukou (east), on 19 January 2009, went to Tabagne, 41 km from Bondoukou, to assess the impact of the right to education and the right to an identity on the communities. The two issues related to the high prevalence of pregnancy among female pupils and the failure of parents to register the birth of their children. During the 2008 academic year, 19 pupils aged between 15 and 18 were reported pregnant in the Collège Moderne and 80% of pupils did not have birth certificates. The Office is planning an awareness-raising campaign among community leaders and local administrative authorities in the area, to address these two critical issues.

The Human Rights Division is following up the case of two members of a human rights NGO, the "Mouvement Ivoirien pour les Droits de l'Homme" (MIDH), who were locked up and physically assaulted on 14 January 2009 by members of the "Fédération Estudiantine et Scolaire de Côte d'Ivoire" (FESCI) at the Lycée Municipal Pierre Gadié in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Yopougon. The two human rights defenders were investigating the clash between FESCI members and members of a rival student union, the "Association Générale des Etudiants et Elèves de Côte d'Ivoire" (AGEECI), within the premises of the school. On 7 January 2009, a total of 60 FESCI members attacked members of the AGEECI with truncheons, irons bars and stones, seriously wounding four of them.