Bouaké, 18 August 2009.... Visits to a poultry project, a rice farm and a pig farm constituted, on Tuesday, the first leg of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi's mission to the interior of the country to assess the impact of UNOCI's microprojects initiative.

The Chief of UNOCI went to the outskirts of Bouaké where the Mission has financed projects to help with the reintegration of ex-combatants of the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles (FAFN), young people at risk and women affected by the conflict.

The aim of his visit was to see the successes and assess what is needed for future activities. In this regard, the Special Representative said that the main objective of microprojects, which was to guarantee a peaceful pre-electoral environment, had on the whole been achieved. With regard to the financial aspect, he asked non-governmental organisations (ONGs), in charge of supervising the projects to give him a straightforward assessment of the initiative, which was launched in August 2008 – thanks to $4 million provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund.

Mr Choi was in Bouaké as part of a mission that will take him to Séguéla, Daloa, Issia and San Pedro.

In addition to an assessment of the microcroprojets, he will also look at the progress made so far in the processing of data from the identification and voter registration operation.

He will also visit cantonment sites for FAFN ex combatants that are scheduled to be rehabilitated by UNOCI. In this regard, he announced in Bouaké, that UNOCI had mobilised 500 million FCFA for the rehabilitation of the cantonment sites in Bouaké, Séguéla, Man and Korhogo.