UNOCI MOBILISES RESOURCES FOR INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT OUATTARA

The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) has mobilised its human, security, material and logistical resources for the inauguration of the Ivorian President, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the Mission's Spokesman, Hamadoun Touré, said in Abidjan on Thursday.

In this regard he recalled the imminent arrival of the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who will lead a high-level delegation, including the Chief of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Alain le Roy, which will take part in the inauguration ceremony of President Alassane Ouattara, on 21 May in Yamoussoukro.

With regard to the Mission's support on the ground, the Spokesman explained that peacekeepers will be part of the security provisions at the airport and the main routes in Yamoussoukro. They will also clean up and provide security at the Houphouët Boigny Foundation where the ceremony will take place, said Mr. Touré, during UNOCI's weekly press conference. This multifaceted support to the Ivorian Government, he explained, was to ensure that the event is held under the best possible conditions.

Apart from their presence in Yamoussoukro, said the Spokesman, UNOCI forces also carried out 689 air and ground patrols during the past week and continued to carry out mixed patrols with elements of the Forces républicaines de Côte d'Ivoire (FRCI). On the humanitarian front, he further explained that UNOCI peacekeepers provided free medical treatment to 728 patients and distributed 103,000 litres of potable water during the past week.

The Mission's bomb disposal teams continued to collect and store unexploded bombs and ammunitions throughout the country, said Mr. Touré. According to the Spokesman, the site proposed by the Ivorian military authorities for the depollution of arms was now known. It is situated at 45 kilometres north east of Abidjan, in Azaguié region.

Earlier, the Spokesman had announced that the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, would be meeting with the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Youssouf Bakayoko, to discuss future matters. "The aim of the meeting is discuss the conditions for the holding of legislative elections which will lead to a new parliamentary architecture in the country," said Mr. Touré.

It will also be an opportunity, he added, for Mr. Choi to reassure the IEC Chairman of UNOCI's willingness to continue to support the national body to carry out its task.

The acting head of UNOCI's Human Rights Division, Guillaume Ngefa, announced that 55 persons, including FRCI elements, were killed by pro-Gbagbo mercenaries during their flight from three different areas. He condemned the crimes and summary executions committed by the mercenaries. "This number of person killed became known following two inquiry missions carried out by UNOCI which included its military and police," explained Mr. Ngefa.

He said that in an effort to ensure that international norms and principles were being respected regarding the legal procedures involving members of Gbagbo's regime, his department had met with the Public Prosecutor and the Government Commissioner. "We expressed our concerns to them, especially with regard to the legal status of the people who were detained following the arrest of the former president, access to those detained in Pergola Hotel and the interior of the country, the current state of the preliminary inquiries on the Gbagbos, as well as other detainees and allegations that there were only the names of close associates of the Gbagbo regime on the list of the 200 persons arrested..." said Mr. Ngefa.

"With the Government Commissioner, we discussed the preliminary inquiries concerning ex-members of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) and he told us that he had not detained anyone in the main prison in Abidjan," Mr. Ngefa explained.

He welcomed the close collaboration between UNOCI's Human Rights Division and the Ivorian Ministry of Justice, which in its effort to be transparent had invited them to Pergola Hotel to ensure that the preliminary inquiries concerning certain officials from the former regime were being carried out in accordance with international norms and principles related to equal process. "The conditions of detention are good and there is nothing negative to say about them," Mr. Ngefa concluded.