Abidjan, 5 October 2009...The Principal Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Abou Moussa, on Monday received an African Union delegation led by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Francophonie, of the Central African Republic, Dieudonné Kombo-Yaya.

The exchanges which lasted more than one hour, took place at the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) in Abidjan. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Kombo-Yaya told the press that the mission of the delegation, which arrived in Côte d'Ivoire on Sunday, 4 October, was to carry out a series of consultations with the different parties involved or interested in the electoral process in Côte d'Ivoire

"UNOCI is one of our major international partners in the current process in Côte d'Ivoire, so it is quite normal that we should come here to discuss the issue," he explained. He said that the discussions had focused on the political, security and social situation, and on all that UNOCI and the concerned parties have done in order to move the crisis-resolution process forward.

Mr. Kombo-Yaya revealed that the assessment mission will produce a report with precise recommendations to the President of the African Union Commission, in order the organization to determine the size of the observation mission which will be deployed in Côte d'Ivoire during the elections.