A UN panel of experts has warned that violence may escalate in Ivory Coast, particularly in the north, as parties are rearming despite an UN arms embargo imposed since 2004.
“Despite the arms embargo, the parties to the conflict remain sufficiently heavily armed to engage in sustained armed hostilities and some are rearming,” said a letter from the experts that was sent to the president of the UN Security Council. “Should the political situation in the country deteriorate, and the economic interests of some parties be threatened by events, the Group [panel of experts] cannot exclude a situation in which armed violence may escalate rapidly, particularly in the north.”
The panel said that it had obtained “physical evidence that suggested a consistent pattern of violations of the arms embargo” in the cocoa-rich former French colony in west Africa.
It voiced concern that the “number, age and condition of weapons that are presented for inspection [to the UN mission in Ivory Coast or the panel of experts] frequently do not accord with the weapons that are visible on the streets in the hands of various security forces.”
And the panel reminded UN member states of the importance of “taking appropriate measures to sensitize their respective government institutions to prevent the direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer of arms or any related material” to Ivory Coast.
“Before transferring weapons, including surplus weapons, to a state in the [west African] region, the Group urges exporting states to consider carefully the willingness and ability of the recipient state to take all necessary measures to prevent illicit transfer, including the authenticity of its end-user certificates,” it noted.
Last October, the UN Security Council renewed for another year its arms embargo and diamond trade ban, as well as targeted sanctions on personalities seen as obstacles to peace in Ivory Coast.
It said the measures could be lifted once free and fair polls were held.
Respect of the embargo is being monitored by the UN force in Ivory Coast (ONUCI) backed by about 1,800 French troops.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa grower, was sliced in half after a September 2002 coup attempt against President Laurent Gbagbo.
In March 2007, Gbagbo and his former foe, ex-rebel leader Guillaume Soro, now the country’s prime minister, signed a peace deal brokered by neighboring Burkina Faso.
Last January, the Security Council extended for six months the mandate of ONUCI and the French forces backing it “in particular to support the organization of free, open, fair and transparent elections.”
But it reduced the level of ONUCI’s authorized military personnel from 8,115 to 7,450 and urged the Ivorian political actors to agree on a “new and realistic [election] time frame,” including a final date for the presidential poll.
Ivory Coast has put off presidential elections several times since Gbagbo’s mandate ran out in October 2005, the most recent postponement from a planned date of Nov. 30.
The reason for the latest delay was said to be the slow pace for getting identity papers to all eligible voters, a process that began on Sept. 15.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS