Highlights

- SRSG meets ex-President Henri Konan Bédié in Daoukro
- President Gbagbo visits Séguéla and Vavoua

Political

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, went to Daoukro (242 km from Abidjan) on Saturday, 12 July 2008, to hold talks with the President of the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), Henri Konan Bédié, on the evolution of the electoral process. Mr. Choi explained to President Bédié the initiatives that have been taken or envisaged by the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) to accompany the process and provide a secure environment for it. He highlighted the availability of the UN Mission to contribute to meeting the logistical challenges involved in preparing for elections.

President Laurent Gbagbo today visited Séguéla and Vavoua (centre west) for the first time since the beginning of the Ivorian crisis in September 2002. His visit comes in the wake of violent demonstrations by soldiers from Armed Forces of Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) on 28 June 2008, following the sacking of former Zone Commander Zacharia Koné and his subsequent replacement by Issiaka Ouattara. UNOCI's BANBATT was on high alert and 39 extra soldiers and three officers, were deployed in the Mission's camp in Séguéla during the presidential visit.

Security

UNPOL in Bouaké today reported violent clashes over the weekend, between the host and the Mossi communities, originally from Burkina Faso, over land ownership in Dedikaha village, 39 km north of Ferkessedougou (north). Nine people were injured including the chief of the village during the incident. FAFN soldiers have intensified patrols in the area in an attempt to calm the situation. In addition, a committee comprising local authorities and UNOCI staff was expected to meet this morning to try to work out a solution.

Redeployment of administration

UNOCI's chief of Rule of Law unit, Ms. Françoise Simard, on 12 July 2008 participated in an official ceremony in Bouaké to launch a rehabilitation programme for nine prisons in Forces Nouvelles areas in the north of the country. The project, which costs 1.7 millions euros, is being financed by the German government and will be overseen by the NGO, Prisonniers Sans Frontières. The work should be finished by the end of December this year. During the ceremony, the German Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire, Mr. Rolph Ulrich, thanked UNOCI for its valauble contribution to the project by providing reports and its expertise on the situation in prisons in Cote d'Ivoire.