The deputy UN Special Representative, Resident Coordinator of the UN System and Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs, Ndolamb Ngokwey, participated in a meeting on Wednesday 17 July, to launch an Enlarged Coordination Committee (ECC) set up by the Ivorian government. Several UN funds, agencies and programmes also took part in the official launching ceremony at the Ivorian Ministry of Solidarity, the Family, Women and Children.



Addressing the occasion, Mr. Ndolamb Ngokwey welcomed the setting up of the ECC which he said was a necessity. Even if Cote d'Ivoire is no longer experiencing an acute humanitarian crisis, he said, it does not mean there were no residual humanitarian needs. "{It was important that the committee be put in place because there were still vulnerable components of the population whom we have to take care of}", Mr. Ngokwey said, stressing the need to find lasting solutions to the problem of displaced persons.



The Ivorian Minister of Solidarity, the family, Women, and Children, Anne Ouloto, equally welcomed the creation of a coordination mechanism to facilitate the handling of residual humanitarian needs. The gradual withdrawal of humanitarian partners to be replaced by government structures must be assisted by a coordination mechanism; the setting up of a coordination committee, she said, is in response to this need.



Mrs. Ouloto made an appeal for humanitarian partners and the Ivorian government to continue working together to assist the population to overcome the effects of the crisis.