Grand-Bassam, 25 September 2009... A regional training seminar on "The obstacles to the development of efficient judicial systems in sub-Saharan Africa", initiated by the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) especially for magistrates, ended on Friday, 25 September 2009, in Grand-Bassam.

The seminar, financed by the German NGO, GTZ, was saw the participation of 14 magistrates from six countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Gabon, Togo, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. It was essentially aimed at giving participants the opportunity to better understand the functioning of the two judicial systems which exist in sub-Saharan Africa, namely Common law for English-speaking countries, and Roman law for French-speaking countries, by highlighting the obstacles to their efficiency.

At the end of the 11-day training, participants recommended institutional reforms in order to make the judicial power and the internal fight against corruption effective.

The Chief of UN police in Côte d'Ivoire, Jean-Marie Boury, welcomed the training which, he said, provides a forum for a collective awareness of problems and needs, as well as the necessary steps to legal security - an element indispensable to a true democracy.

The assistant manager of training in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Tanguy koné, welcomed participants' willingness to equip their respective jurisdiction with the necessary instruments to fight against the big plagues that are cybercrime, corruption and illicit trafficking of drugs and light weapons. "Now you have the same vision of the mechanisms to be implemented in order to reinforce the efficiency of our judicial systems," he said.

The participants gave a vote of thanks to the UN Police, UNOCI's Rule of Law section and GTZ.