Abidjan, 15 April 2010... The United Nations technical assessment mission currently in Côte d'Ivoire is expected in Ouagadougou on Friday to exchange views with the Facilitator of the inter-Ivorian dialogue, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, Hamadoun Touré, spokesman of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), said on Thursday.

"The mission will request the views of President Compaoré in this crucial period of the crisis-resolution process, in order to report to the United Nations Secretary-General," Mr. Touré said during UNOCI's weekly press conference.

As a prelude to the visit to Ouagadougou, he added, the delegation led by the Director of the Africa Division of the Peacekeeping Department in New York, Raisedon Zenenga, held meetings with the Special Representative of the Facilitator, Boureima Badini.

Recalling the activities carried out by the team since Monday with the different actors involved in the search for solutions to the Ivorian crisis, the spokesman mentioned its consultations with President Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Youssouf Bakayoko, Foreign Minister Kacou Gervais and the Minister of the Interior, Désiré Tagro.

He also mentioned meetings held with certain political parties, including the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the Rally of Republicans (RDR).

With regard to the first days of the visit, Mr. Touré said the team had made a good harvest of ideas in its discussions, which were enriched by the diversity of issues covered and by the contributions of the various interlocutors. "All of the interlocutors insisted especially on how to emerge from the crisis, which is very positive," he stressed, explaining that when your interlocutors themselves actually make proposals so that things can move forward, you can only call that a good harvest.

However, Mr. Touré insisted on the need to wait until the end of the mission, which will then make a synthesis of all the recommendations and report to the United Nations Secretary-General.

With regard to the rest of the timetable of the assessment mission, the spokesman said meetings were planned with representatives of African and regional organizations as well as with the heads of international financial organizations based in the country.

Further, the Team will also meet with generals Philippe Mangou of the Defense and Security Forces and Soumaila Bakayoko of the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles, the Force Licorne Commander and the chiefs of the Ivorian Police and Gendarmerie, he disclosed.

According to Mr. Touré, the delegation was also scheduled to meet with civil society, ambassadors accredited to Côte d'Ivoire, and the technical operators in charge of identification and electoral registration: the National Institute of Statistics and Sagem.

Where the electoral and reunification processes are concerned, UNOCI encourages the current efforts and reiterates its availability to provide support for all initiatives in this regard, in accordance with its mandate, and its human and logistical resources, Mr. Touré said. UNOCI feels this task is of the highest importance to facilitate the resumption of the processing of provisional voters' list appeals as soon as possible.