The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), in collaboration with local government authorities in Biankouma (640 km North West of Abidjan), on Friday, 12 December 2014, organized a seminar for traditional and opinion leaders.



The seminar, whose aim was to strengthen the capacity of Biankouma village chiefs and opinion leaders in social cohesion and conflict management, brought together about 200 participants from seven departments in the Tonkpi region.



The first part of the seminar consisted of a series of presentations, the second was a group workshop and the last a plenary session. These different sessions highlighted the rights and duties of leaders, the different counties of the department and the mechanisms of conflict management.



The participants identified the challenges the region faced with regard to the consolidation of peace and the ways and means to create a peaceful environment during the elections in 2015.



The presentations dealt with "the history of the traditional divisions of the department of Biankouma", the "Rights and duties of village chiefs according to the 1934 decree "; "The new law on traditional leadership"; and "the role of village leaders in social cohesion through the mechanism of conflict management.



During the opening session, the Prefect of Biankouma, N'Dri N'Guessan reminded participants that in the post-crisis period, the consolidation of peace and the restoration of social cohesion occupied the most prominent place in Biankouma's timetable.



For him at the end of the seminar the leaders were better equipped to play their part in strengthening social cohesion and, above all, in keeping a peaceful environment during the 2015 elections.



For his part, Frank Dakoury, the head of UNOCI's delegation emphasized the importance of such seminar for the UN mission. He highlighted the desire of UNOCI to support the establishment of a global strategy for national reconciliation and social cohesion, especially in view of the presidential election of 2015. According to him this strategy should be possible by the implementation of concrete measures to promote justice and reconciliation at all levels as stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 2162 (2014).



Gbato Dan Theodore, the village chief of Kandopleu, like all of his peers, said at the end of the workshop that the community leaders were adequately informed and were now aware of their rights and duties.



« It is a great joy for us to have benefited from this training and we want to ask the authorities and UNOCI to regularly organize such seminars » he said.