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MEDIAWATCH: Why the next six months are key for Ivory Coast

by joanne-tomkinson | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 18 January 2008 17:23 GMT

This week U.N. and French peacekeepers got the go-ahead to extend their mission in Ivory Coast amid fears that delays to promised elections there could derail crucial peace accords.

The U.N. Security CouncilÂ?s decision speaks volumes about what is at stake in this deeply divided country. If elections promised for June donÂ?t happen, many fear Ivory Coast could spiral back into the kind of violence that tore it apart between 2002 and 2007.

Media reports hint at the urgency.

But as the U.N.Â?s IRIN news wire reports, the United Nations is concerned about how much there is still to do before elections can take place, including registering voters and certifying electoral lists.

Disarmament and a lack of unity in the armed forces are also of pressing concern, and Â?continue to represent a potential threat to the future of the peace processÂ?, according to the U.N.

IRIN also notes that the U.N. is worried about human rights violations in the country and recent surges in crime and sexual violence against children.

The current accord, which has raised the possibility of lasting peace, is now the sixth agreement aimed at healing the countryÂ?s wounds.

The East African newspaper highlights the need for the government to ensure all citizens are given equal rights, saying Â?issues of identity and citizenship are at the core of the Ivorian crisisÂ?.

Almost 3 million Ivorians still donÂ?t have identity cards, causing them to suffer discrimination and disenfranchisement as a result, according to the paper. These identity cards are also essential for citizens to be able to vote in the forthcoming elections.

In an article on a briefing paper about the future of the Ivory Coast peace accord by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the paper notes that Â?nine months from the signing of the OPA (Ouagadougou Political Agreement), only a few tasks have been fulfilledÂ?.

The paper also draws attention to the governmentÂ?s inability to extend it operations throughout the country. Ivory Coast has been split in two since a failed coup in 2002 sparked civil war and the government lost control of the north and west.

Â?The extension of the stateÂ?s administration has not occurred. While many civil servants have been redeployed to posts in the north of the country, a region that had remained out of government control since the start of the crisis, many have returned to Abidjan, citing poor working conditions and infrastructure,Â? the paper notes.

The next few months will be crucial for a peace process widely seen as Ivory CoastÂ?s best and last chance.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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