Twenty-three members of the Defence and Security Commission (DSC) of the Ivorian National Assembly have undergone a 4-day training programme aimed at setting up a parliamentary oversight committee on security matters.



The training which ended on 3 December in Grand Bassam , 43 km south of Abidjan, was organized by the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and falls within the framework of a cooperation agreement between the Ivorian National Assembly and the UN System to support the 2013-2016 Strategic Plan of the National Assembly.



The objectives of the Plan include: the training of parliamentarians on their legislative role and the cardinal principles of their function, acquaint them with the ongoing Security Sector Reform process and the security challenges facing Côte d'Ivoire, as well as enhance their potential to act as a parliamentary oversight committee on security matters.



According to the President of the Defence and Security Commission of the National Assembly, Honourable Pierre Oulatta, the training provided a better understanding of the security issues at stake and served to place parliament at the centre of public affairs. It also served, he said, to broaden the democratic debate.



UNOCI hopes that through this south-south cooperation, it is contributing to the development of the capacity of members of the DSC within the framework of the UN Peace-building Fund. Among the regional specialists conducting the training was the former President of the Defence and Security Commission of the Senegalese parliament, Mouhamadou Bamba Ndiaye and a representative of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed forces.



A similar training programme for the rest of the 23 members of the Defence and Security Commission of the Ivorian National Assembly is scheduled for January 2014. Thereafter, a consolidated record of recommendations would be drawn up at the end and would constitute a plan of action for the DSC.