Abidjan, 1st October 2009... The Spokesperson for the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Hamadoun Touré, announced on Thursday that the Mission had begun, the second phase of transportation of electoral equipment to IEC warehouses in Yamoussoukro. The same operation had been carried out in the Ivorian economic capital, at the beginning of the week.

Mr. Touré recalled, during UNOCI's weekly press conference, that the removal of the containers comprising ballot boxes, polling booths and kits from Abidjan port in both storage centres, is part of the Mission's logistical support to IEC in an effort to consolidate the progress in the electoral process.

Reporting on the activities of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, the spokesman said that Mr. Choi had attended a meeting of the Security Council dedicated to the Ivorian issue on Tuesday. According to Mr. Touré, the meeting underlined the progress recorded in the evolution of the electoral process and expressed the hope that the challenges would be taken up in order to ensure that the date of 29 November scheduled by the competent authorities for the holding of the presidential election is respected.

The second part of the press conference, which attended many sports journalists, consisted of a ceremony to hand over UNOCI's fair-play trophy to the chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of Côte d'Ivoire (UNJCI), Criwa Zéli, as well as sports equipment to the representatives of the press organs. UNOCI's donation is part of its support to the organization of the Football Tournament of Brotherhood.

On this occasion, Mr. Touré reiterated UNOCI's willingness to be by the side of journalists not only for the reinforcement of their capacity but also for their major contribution to the crisis-resolution process and in order that UNOCI and media men, together, can accompany Côte d'Ivoire to a definitive return to normality.

Mr. Criwa highlighted the positive actions of UNOCI aimed at Ivorian journalists. "You support us in the training of journalists and in the organization of the brotherhood tournament, we can only express our gratitude to you," he declared.

The Football Tournament of Brotherhood, which takes place every year, gives journalists from every press organs, the opportunity to celebrate friendship and unity.