Members of the Association of Pupils and Students of Cavally and Guémon regions have made a commitment to pomote peaceful election in a secure and calm environment. This was done at a special day to promote peace that they organised on 14 October in Guiglo, situated at some 520 km west of Abidjan, in partnership with the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and the National Security Council (NSC).



Among the activities organised during the event for the pupils and students, was a training session on security sector reform (SSR) aimed at promoting peaceful elections on the theme: ''Security Sector Reform for Peaceful Elections in Cavally and Guemon''.



The NSC's communications officer, Mireille Tanoh, outlined to participants, 108 reforms which are in the process of being implemented by her organisation in an effort to guarantee a humane security structure for Ivorians. In addition, she also urged them to vote responsibly during the forthcoming presidential election.



For his part, UNOCI's SSR Coordinator for Sector West, Sylvestre Kibeceri, highlighted the UN Mission's mandate to accompany the Ivorian authorities in the implementation of its security sector reform in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2226 (2015). He then asked youths in Guiglo (Cavally) to become actors of peace during the electoral process. « Without security, it is not possible to vote freely. This is why I encourage you to promote peaceful elections in your region, » he said.



Honoré Kouadio from the NGO Verbatims made a presentation on the theme : ''Prevention of conflicts : a challenge for peaceful elections''.



Peace and security depends on us the youths





{« Our region suffered a lot because of the way certain people behaved during past elections ; peace and security depends on us, the youths. We should take each other's hand in an effort to participate in the development of Cavally and Guémon »}, said Séré Bonahin, president of the Association. He also asked for a partnership between his association and the NSC and for local authorities to provide a library and a information centre.



The secretary-general of the préfecture, Marc Ahoulou Assamoi urged the pupils and students to respect their commitmentsin order to avoid the painful experience of the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011.