Administrations of West
African peace missions are improving their cooperation

Le Patriote -
The sixth UN West Africa
administrative conference ended on Monday, 26 April 2010 at the headquarters of
the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). At the end of the
three-day working session, UNOCI's chief of Mission Support, Wallace Divine said
he was very contented. "We worked on the missions' entire general interest
issues. We especially examined the ways and means that can allow us to
collaborate in a more efficient way so that our support is well done", he said
before recalling that "mission support is the backbone of the missions". The
sixth UN West Africa administrative conference has been opened by the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, on Friday
23 April 2010 at UNOCI headquarters. The meeting's objective was to give the
administrations of West Africa missions the opportunity to improve their
cooperation and increase their interaction in order to make their support to the
missions more efficient. In addition to UNOCI, the United Nations Mission in
Liberia (UNMIL), the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA), the United
Nations Office in Guinea Bissau (UNOGBIS) and the United Nations Integrated
Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) participated in the meeting.

 

Electoral process- Hamadoun
Touré (UNOCI's spokesman): "The white list should be submitted to the appeals
process"

L'Inter-
UNOCI's spokesman, Hamadoun Touré, yesterday, 26 April 2010, said in an
interview with the website afreekelection.com, that the "white" list should be
reviewed. "The fact that the electoral process is slow is worrying. We believe
that all this is related to the electoral list. For both camps anyway! You
mentioned an argument over blockages. There is a party which wants the « white
list » to be audited and cross-checked; or be subjected to the appeals process.
There is a party which considers that the list was sufficiently cross-checked so
it is credible and reliable. But we say that even though the white list is
reliable it is not exempt from the appeals process. It should be submitted to
appeals process", Mr. Touré said.

 

Dona Fologo: "UNOCI does not
want peace"

L'Expression  -
The father of national pride sticks to his ideas against the foreign forces
which are enslaving African peoples. Yesterday in San Pedro, presiding over the
pre-seminar for the 50^th anniversary of Côte d'Ivoire's independence,
Laurent Dona Fologo called on African people and Ivorians in particular to
"destroy all the networks which lead to an endemic poverty of the population". 
In this regard, the Chairman of the Economic and Social Council briefly examined
some ideas without addressing the theme of the seminar which is "the economic
conditions for independence in globalization era: myths and realities". For
Fologo, the economic conditions for independence consist of two things: total
decolonization of Africa and emergence of new economic theories (rival of
capitalism) after the latter won over socialism in the framework of Cold War.
According to the father of national pride, the military headquarters and the UN
missions disseminated throughout Africa are signs of continuous colonization.
Anyway, he says, the bureaucrats of the institution are working in order that
peace is not reestablished so that they keep their privileges and posts. "The
more we draw closer to peace the more they are worried. UNOCI is just building
small infrastructures and rehabilitating ruined buildings. It is not working to
reestablish peace", he said. (...)

 

Disarmament and reunification
/ General Francis Autran, Licorne Commander says: "Concrete actions can be
carried out before elections"

L'Intelligent d'Abidjan  -
The
Commander Force Licorne, General Francis Autran was a guest on ONUCI-FM on
Monday, 26 April. He took the opportunity to give his point of view on the
disarmament of ex-combatants of the Forces Nouvelles.

Onuci-Fm : You have just met
with the UN mission which came to assess the crisis-resolution process.
What did they
want to know?

Général Francis
Autran : It was an issue to providing our expertise to the technical mission so
it can have a vision of the security situation and on how it is going to discuss
the renewal of UNOCI at the end of May.

Onuci-Fm : In your opinion
what was it that darkened the situation you talked about ?

Général Francis Autran :
Despite the security jolts that we experienced during the last few weeks, the
situation is very peaceful and the conditions are there for a lasting
crisis-resolution which is what everyone is hoping for.

Onuci-Fm : You are an
impartial force who can observer things from afar. With regard to the Armed
Forces of the Forces Nouvelles, what is preventing the disarmament of this
Force?

Général Francis Autran :
Disarmament  and reunification, these are two extremely political themes which
appear in the Ouagadougou Political Agreement. In my point of view and as far as
we are concerned, that is to say according to our military expertise,  the
implementation of the  Ouagadougou Political Agreement, I prefer to talk about
the implementation of concrete action on the ground. So it is necessary to
disassociate the political words which are reunification and disarmament from
the implementation of concrete actions. There are a certain number of concrete
actions which can be implemented before elections which is what everyone wishes.

Onuci-Fm : What kind of
concrete actions?

Général Francis Autran : There
is nothing to invent. Everything is already there. Everything has already been
thought out and planned. What has to be done now is carry out the action
together with the political will and to provide the means such financial, human
and logistic resources. The Integrated Command Centre is in charge of the
implementation. It should be given the means to deploy its units throughout Cote
d'Ivoire.

Onuci-Fm : You have said there
should be some political will. Do you think this is sometimes lacking?

Général Francis Autran : No, I
did not say that political will is lacking. On the contrary, the political will
has been reaffirmed by the Prime Minister last Friday.  From now on it is clear
that things will be implemented progressively. I think that today it is in fact
a problem of means rather than political will and the parties must come together
to decided what means can be provide to back this redeployment.

Onuci-Fm : The political
actors fear that security provisions might be insufficient when election are
organised. What role does the Force Licorne intend to play in providing security
for the forthcoming elections?

General Francis Autran : The
Force licorne is part of the Impartial Forces and it is already a supporting
force to UNOCI's Force. In the general security provisions for the elections,
UNOCI already has a specific role in the written mandate and that is to provide
support for the Forces of Cote d'Ivoire. We are in a sovereign country. The
country should be capable of taking on the security provisions for elections.
The Force Licorne behind UNOCI will provide its expertise to the security
provisions throughout the whole country, particularly in the Abidjan region.  

Onuci-Fm : Will you also
provide logistical support?

General Francis Autran : When
the time comes, we will see what kind of support the Impartial Forces and
Licorne in particular, will contribute to the security provisions for the
elections.

 

What
Gbagbo is doing with the Mi-24? The revelations of a Defense Force and Security
of Côte D'Ivoire (FDS-CI) staff officer

Soir
Info  - The
Ivorian army still has striking force. The destruction by the French Army, of
its aircraft (Sukhoi SU-25 and MI 24), has, in no way, weakened it, according to
an Ivorian Army staff officer. ''As I am speaking right now, we cannot say that
the Army of Cote d'Ivoire is poorly equipped. The Army of the Côte D'Ivoire is
well equipped. People who think otherwise are trying to make their dreams into
reality. It is an army like any other which has the tools to defend itself.
Under attack, from whatever source, the Army of Côte D'Ivoire is now able to
defend itself," a staff officer  of Côte D'Ivoire's Army told us, under cover of
anonymity, (...) Today, he said, because of the embargo unfairly imposed  on us,
we have formed within the Army, young Ivorians who can easily make a Mi-24 fly.
When we were cowardly attacked by France, who destroyed our aircraft on the
ground, young Ivorians saved some of these Mi-24, they can be flown at  any
time. Pilots and mechanics are all Ivorians. I am not going to give you all the
details because there are things I cannot say. However, in any case, we must let
people know that with our local expertise, fully repaired the Mi-24. They are
now real war machines. (...) He also indicated that apart from these planes,
"Côte d'Ivoire now has enough weapons to defend itself if attacked" (...)

 

Profiting from Malick
Coulibaly's tour in Dabakala : Traditonal chiefs demand disarmament of the
Forces Nouvelles

Notre Voie  –
Profiting from Malick
Coulibaly's tour in Dabakala: Traditional chiefs demand the disarmament of the
Forces Nouvelles. The traditional chiefs of Dabakala district on Saturday made
the demand for the disarmament of the Forces Nouvelles before the elections
during an audience with Malick Issa Coulibaly, campaign director for Laurent
Gbagbo. The meeting, which took place in the evening at the house of Mr. Abou
Sangolobè Coulibaly, district campaign director for Gbagbo saw the chiefs very
angry denouncing the ex-rebellion. Mr. Coulibaly Dougoutigui,
vice-president of the association of Dabakala chief, who made the demand on
behalf of the chiefs.  [....]