Abidjan, 10 March 2015 – The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Aïchatou Mindaoudou and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Liberia and Head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Karin Landgren, on Tuesday, 10 March 2015, participated in a Quadripartite meeting with representatives of the Governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia.



The delegations from the two countries were led respectively by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Charles Koffi Diby of Côte d'Ivoire and Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan of Liberia.



The Ivorian Minister of the Interior and Security, Hamed Bakayoko and the Liberian Interior Minister, Morris M. Dukuly, also took part in the meeting.



The meeting, which was held in part as preparations for the Sixth Session of the Ivorian-Liberian Joint Commission for Bi-lateral Cooperation, provided an opportunity for the Governments of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire to discuss the security and humanitarian situation along their common borders, bilateral cooperation and the holding of the second session of the Joint Council of Traditional Chiefs and Elders.



The heads of UNOCI and UNMIL both welcomed the resumption of the activities of the Tripartite Commission on 12 and 13 March 2015 in Abidjan.



"The cooperation mechanism which reunites us this morning strengthens the cooperation between Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia. It is an indicator of lasting security and prosperity for the two countries and the region", said the head of UNOCI, Mrs Aïchatou Mindaoudou.



"We have witnessed the strengthening of border security through ground and river operations, which are sometimes carried out jointly and always with coordination between all the respective armed forces with support from UNOCI and UNMIL", she said, adding that "the crossborder security strategy of the Mano River Union adopted in 2014, with the support of the United Nations, could offer interesting perspectives for economic development, as well as the integration of security forces to respond to any emerging or actual security threats".



Mrs Mindaoudou welcomed "the efforts being made to institutionalise the Joint Council of Traditional Chiefs and Elders, as well as the follow-up to the recommendations adopted in Zwedru in October 2013". She reiterated

"the appropriate assistance from UNOCI and the UN family for the implementation of Quick Impact Projects and to solicit funds to support initiatives with the aim of helping border communities in the spirit of the Zwedru meeting".



For her part, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Liberia, Karin Landgren, thanked the two Governments for organising the meeting. Ms Landgren said: "Each one of these Quadripartite meetings has been time well spent. And this Quadripartite meeting also signals the return of critically important matters that were interrupted by Liberia's national tragedy in 2014, the scourge of Ebola".



In this regard, the SRSG for Liberia said: "Liberia is now in its third week without a single case of Ebola. We cannot rest, neither the Government nor the United Nations, as long as Ebola remains in the region. All the more reason to reinvigorate the vital work of strengthening border relationships, border security and above all border stability".



Ms Landgren also said that: "As the UN in Liberia, we offer our support to building confidence around the re-opening of the border". In this regard, she said that UNMIL, "would propose the resumption of regular cross-border security and civilian contacts, known as Operation Mayo, which have been valuable for confidence-building and information exchange" and which is forseen to transition in due course to become fully national.



To conclude, the two heads of the UN Missions reiterated the full support of the United Nations to the two countries in their joint efforts to consolidate stability and security along their common borders.