UNOCI chief meets new head of European Union in Côte d'Ivoire
Le Nouveau Réveil -« The Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, on Thursday, met the new head of the European Union delegation in Côte d'Ivoire, Thierry De Saint Maurice, who paid him a courtesy call. "It is normal for me to visit and discuss with the Chief of UNOCI because he plays a very important role in the current situation in Côte d'Ivoire," said Mr. De Saint Maurice, after the meeting at the Mission's headquarters in Abidjan. With reference to the current situation, he said that the EU delegation was for the time being, following how things were evolving, with much concern. "We hope that solutions can be found," he added. The EU is politically and financially implicated in the whole process.

UNOCI chief and former Prime Minister Konan Banny examine the electoral process
Le Nouveau Réveil -« The Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, on Thursday, in Abidjan, met with former Ivorian Prime Minister, Charles Konan Banny, who said he had come to find out about the current situation with regard to the electoral process and to make some observations. "I notice that when you look closely, the same problems begin to re-emerge and since I cannot remain uninterested, I came to see Mr. Choi to give him my point of view on this or that aspect of the issue," said Mr. Banny, at the end of the discussions which lasted almost 40 minutes at UNOCI's headquarters. Asked about the blockage in the electoral process, he said that this problem was only a detail compared to the huge damage that the country had been subjected to for the past five years. "We thought that the ongoing process as drawn up in the OPA was likely to take us out of this situation. Can we therefore conclude that we have arrived at the end of this other arrangement?" he asked. "I hope not," he answered. (...) »

Identity crisis – UNOCI in Bocanda. Simon Munzu (chief of Human Rights Division): "Avoid relighting the fire"
Demain -« "The crisis which Cote d'Ivoire has experienced since 2002 was a real test of human relations and the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI) wants "to avoid relighting that fire", the chief of UNOCI's Human Rights Division, Simon Munzu, said on Wednesday during a meeting with the administrative, political and security authorities of the district of Bocanda, 320 km northeast of Abidjan. Mr. Munzu, who led a UNOCI delegation, explained the aim of UNOCI Days, an information and sensitisation campaign through several activities. Like the previous editions in Vavoua et and Hiré, the Days, which end on Friday, comprise free medical consultations provided by the Pakistani battalion, a public forum with civil society and sport and cultural activities. (...) »

UNOCI warns Ivorian political: « The crisis resolution process cannot be financed indefinitely»
Notre Heure -« The deputy spokesman for the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Kenneth Blackman said yesterday, during the a weekly press conference in Bocanda, that the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, had made « efforts » to find a solution to the impasse facing the crisis-resolution process since the start of the Mambé affair and the processing of the legal electoral appeals. (...). Responding to journalists' concerns that the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, had taken a position on the issue of 429,000 persons, Mr. Blackman explained that this merely an impression. "I can assure you that he has done nothing of the kind. The Special Representative has not taken a position. He does not have one".

Concerning UNOCI's supposed passivity in the face of the numerous postponements in the electoral period, Mr. Blackman said that with regard to this issue, UNOCI had a precise role, determined by the Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA). On the contrary, said Mr. Blackman, UNOCI is always involved and has done a lot of work in this regard. "When we notice that there are things which prevent the process from advancing, we do all we can to help the political actors surmount the difficulties," he said. He recalled that the Mission had provided logistical support, including transport and material, to help overcome several obstacles.
On the subject of the eternal re-launching of the electoral process, which is estimated to be the most expensive in the world and which according to the press would have to hae its modus operandi modified, Mr. Blackman highlighted the specificity of the Ivorian pattern. However, he said, once agreements are signed, the international community cannot pass besides. «So in order to change this pattern, a series of action at the national, regional and international level is needed, but the international community cannot indefinitely finance the crisis-resolution process », he said.

Crisis meeting in Ouaga: Compaoré and Soro ask Mambé resignation/ Mambé : "I will not resign"
L'Inter - "Called to Ouagadougou by President Blaise Compaore, Facilitator in the crisis-resolution process in Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian political actors returned without a minimum agreement to re-launch the electoral process blocked for a few weeks. However the resignation of the IEC's chairman, Beugré Mambé, is more than ever the main topic, according to a source very close to the situation, who briefed us on the talks held, during the last three days in the Burkinabe capital. According to this source, the Prime Minister Soro, who met Chairman Mambé on Wednesday before meeting the Facilitator, asked him to tender his resignation from the IEC in the interest of peace in Côte d'Ivoire. But the chief of the organ in charge of the Ivorian electoral process said no to the government chief, owner of the agreements implemented within the framework of the total crisis resolution. Beugre Mambé, who went to Ouaga with the firm support of the Rally of Houphouetists, namely chairman Allassane Ouattara, leader of the RDR, (party of the deputy chairman of the IEC, jean-Baptiste Gomis, also cited in the affair of the 429 000 voters), will not change his determination to achieve at any cost his mission as the head of the IEC; Even when, as the Prime Minister Soro, the Facilitator Blaise Compaore asks for his resignation. In fact, with a view to finding a solution to this other crisis which can adversely affect all the efforts made to organize elections without incidents which are supposed to put an end to the Ivorian crisis, the mediator of Faso, during his meeting with Beugre Mambe, yesterday, expressed the same idea as the Ivorian chief of government. It seems that Blaise Compaore asked the chairman Mambe to resign as a sacrifice to facilitate the process for the normalization of the situation in Côte d'Ivoire. But this other request will not soft up Beugre Mambe in the affair of the 429 000 voters, whose cases constitute blockage in the peace process in Côte d'Ivoire. Therefore the "Mambe affair"- as this crisis has been called- deported to Ouaga, have not moved at all. This is threatening social peace and compromise more and more because of tense debates between the opposition which supports the IEC's chairman and the presidential camp, which demands his resignation. With the significant support of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the Ivorian crisis, Choi Young-Jin, as also formal on this issue like the politicians. (...)

Elections' organization- the electoral kits handed over to the IEC
Le Jour Plus - " The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) handed over the electoral kits for the equipping of the 11000 polling stations in Côte d'Ivoire to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), since last Friday. "If today we tell the Independent Electoral Commission to organize the election, we just have to print the candidates' forms. The period for the signing of a contract with a printing house in order to make it, we will distribute the identity and voters cards", said a credible source in the Independent Electoral Commission. A reality when we are aware that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) handed over the electoral kits to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). (...). On Friday 5 February, the warehouses of a former factory in Yamoussoukro, rehabilitated by UNOCI, were handed over to the IEC by the UNDP. (...) everything is almost ready. (...)"

After the attack on Evariste Yaké by RDR's activists in Man; The COMAJMG calls on Choi and the facilitator.
Le Quotidien d'Abidjan - "The pro-Laurent Gbagbo movement and associations in the montagnes region yesterday made a statement to condemn Evariste Yaké's aggression, on 6 February in Man. They expressed their indignation and denounced what they called the tendency of the RDR to prioritize violence as a mode of political action. "The Coalition of the Youth Movements and associations in the montagnes region for Gbagbo (COMAJMG) takes the international community as witness, namely the representative of the UN secretary general and the Facilitator on the regular errors of the RDR and invite them to promptly take action in order to avoid the worst because no one has the monopoly of violence", it recommended in this statement which copy we received. [...]"