The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Mrs Aïchatou Mindaoudou, accompanied by the Minister in charge of Defence, Paul Koffi Koffi, who was also representing the Minister of the Interior and Security, and several diplomats and high-level civilian and military officials, on Tuesday, 22 September 2015, took part in a joint exercise called "Aube de Worodougou – Dawn in Worodougou", on security provisions for the presidential election in October 2015 in the town of Séguéla, situated at 484 km from Abidjan in the Woroba Region. The exercise was part of a wider security operation for elections known as "Aube Nouvelle – New Dawn", which is being carried out throughout Côte d'Ivoire.



The exercise, which involves all Ivorian security forces, was initiated in January 2015 and is part of a framework of cooperation and deployment of all Ivorian security forces in charge of securing the presidential election in October 2015. The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) contributed to the preparation of the security plan in accordance with its accompanying mandate as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2226.



The presentation of operation « Aube nouvelle » highlighted the cooperation between Ivorian forces and UNOCI and the deployment plan for security forces in charge of securing elections, particularly the deployment of troops in Woroba Region.



Speaking at the end of the presentation of the security plan, the Special Representative said: "{ It is a good security plan which only needs a few minor changes. UNOCI will be a partner in its implementation}".



For his part, the Minister in charge of Defence said: "We appreciated everyone's contribution to the presentation which was drafted with the Independent Electoral Commission".



The day's activities ended with a visit to the second commanding post in Séguéla at the gendarmerie squadron.



Speaking to journalists after the visit, the head of UNOCI reiterated her call to all political actors to show restraint, stressing that they should do all they can to ensure that Côte d'Ivoire sees a New Dawn and once and for all turn over the page on the crisis. "In order to do so every Ivorian must behave responsibly and spare no effort to maintain a peaceful environment before, during and after the elections, " said the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire.