Ivory Coast, 2004

Allow me to convey to you, Sir, on behalf of the head

of State, the Prime Minister and the Government and

people of Côte d’Ivoire, my sincere congratulations on

your unanimous election to preside over the General

Assembly at its fifty-ninth session.

Africa is proud to see, yet again, one of its sons

in that eminent role. The sign of confidence on the part

of all States Members of the United Nations reflects

the great appreciation of the role being played by your

country, Gabon, and by its President, His Excellency

El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, in dealing with the

major issues characterizing development in the world,

particularly in Africa.

I am also gratified to have this opportunity to say

how grateful we are to your predecessor, Mr. Julian

Hunte, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saint Lucia,

who, with his many years of skill as a diplomat,

brilliantly discharged his mission. He also deserves our

gratitude and our plaudits.

Finally, I would like to express my warm

appreciation to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

for the active and decisive role he has continued to

play as head of the United Nations.

During the year 2004, the process of national

peace and reconciliation initiated, following the

signing of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and of

Accra II, by the parties and political forces in Côte

d’Ivoire encountered a major deadlock with the events

in March and the suspension of the activities of the

Government of National Reconciliation.

A solution to that dangerous deadlock required

determined action from all parties involved. That

action, fortunately, was forthcoming from the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi

Annan, who took the initiative of organizing a high-

level meeting on Côte d’Ivoire on 6 July 2004 in Addis

Ababa at the time of the third summit of the African

Union. The major decision of that meeting was the

convening, in Accra, of a summit devoted to the crisis

in the Côte d’Ivoire. The summit, known as Accra III,

was preceded, on the recommendation of the high-level

meeting in Addis Ababa, by meetings of the major

joint Ivorian/Burkina Faso and Ivorian/Malian

commissions in July 2004, and by a mini-summit

which brought together the heads of State of Côte

d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali on 27 July 2004 in

Bamako.

During those meetings, Burkina Faso, Côte

d’Ivoire and Mali agreed, inter alia, on the need to

revitalize their cooperation in various areas, including

human rights; the strengthening of safe economic

corridors pending the reunification of Côte d’Ivoire;

the strengthening of cooperation in security and

defence matters, especially the surveillance of borders;

a commitment not to allow the territory of one State to

serve as a base for the destabilization of other States of

the subregion; and the commitment of the three

countries to work together to ensure the success of the

disarmament, demobilization and reintegration

programme undertaken in Côte d’Ivoire.

Those various meetings between the Côte

d’Ivoire and its neighbours created a climate of

confidence and in part contributed to the success of the

Accra III summit, held in the capital of Ghana on

29 July 2004 under the co-chairmanship of His

Excellency Mr. John Kufuor, President of Ghana and

Acting President of the Economic Community of West

African States (ECOWAS), and the Secretary-General

of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan,

and in the presence of ten heads of State of Africa, the

Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union

and the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.

24

In the context of the holding, in Côte d’Ivoire, of

open, free and transparent elections in 2005, important

decisions accompanied by a road map were made at the

Accra III summit. Thus, the President of the Republic,

owing to the serious and continuing threats to the

territorial integrity of Côte d’Ivoire resulting from the

continuing crisis, had to make use of the powers

conferred on him by the Constitution, with a view to

implementing the provisions of section III, concerning

eligibility, of the programme of the Government of

National Reconciliation annexed to the Linas-

Marcoussis Agreement, for the end of the month of

September 2004.

The National Assembly was due to be convened

in special session before the end of August 2004 in

order to consider and adopt all the legislative texts

provided for in the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. The

political forces of Côte d’Ivoire committed themselves

to beginning the disarmament, demobilization and

reintegration programme by 15 October 2004 at the

latest. Moreover, they requested that the Prime

Minister and the Government set a timetable for the

restoration of State administration and public services

throughout national territory.

As of today, the results of the reforms are as

follows:

On the political level, we should note the

reintegration of the three ministers who were dismissed

from the Government of National Reconciliation and

the signing of a decree delegating powers to the Prime

Minister. Thanks to these developments, the

Government of National Reconciliation resumed its

activities, as shown by the meetings Council of

Ministers held since then, in which all members of the

Government participated.

On the legislative level, I am pleased to note the

convening of the deputies in a special session as of

11 August 2004 to consider the most recent texts

resulting from the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. I

would like to recall that the National Assembly has

already adopted laws on amnesty; the identification of

individuals and the stay of foreigners in Côte d’Ivoire;

the amendment of article 26 on rural land holdings; the

financing of political parties, factions and electoral

campaigns under public funding; the declaration of the

national heritage by the President of the Republic; the

ratification of the additional protocol that amends and

supplements the provisions of article 7 of the protocol

regarding the free movement of individuals and right

of residence and of settlement, signed in Ouagadougou

on 30 June 1989; and finally, the National Committee

on Human Rights in Côte d’Ivoire. Several texts are

currently being discussed in Parliament, and others are

not yet under the ambit of that institution. The latter

include draft laws dealing with a revision of article 35

of the constitution on criteria for eligibility for the

presidency of the Republic; the legal regime for audio-

visual communication; the status of the opposition; the

declaration of assets of elected individuals; and the

suppression of profiteering.

Regarding the military, the desire for peace is

clear. Thus, after a pause of several months, the so-

called quadripartite meetings, which bring together the

defence and security forces and the armed forces of the

Forces nouvelles under the aegis of impartial forces,

that is, the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire

(UNOCI) and Operation Licorne, have resumed.

Athletic events have been taking place recently

between the national armed forces and those of the

Forces nouvelles in an atmosphere of fraternity and

good cheer. It should be recalled that, since 4 July

2003, the Government forces and the armed forces of

the Forces nouvelles have signed an agreement

marking the end of the war, and this agreement has

been respected since then. I would also like to

emphasize that, according to the commander of the

UNOCI military force, more than 90 per cent of the

troops of the United Nations peacekeeping force are

already deployed in Côte d’Ivoire. All that is needed

now is military logistics support for this force to be

entirely operational.

Regarding the redeployment of the administration

in those areas which have been subjected to war, this

operation is gradually continuing, to the satisfaction of

local populations, particularly in the west of the

country.

As to alleged human rights violations following

the crisis, Côte d’Ivoire has, out of a concern to combat

impunity, above all, indicated its will to be open to all

visits or investigations — which, in fact, it has itself

requested — in order to appropriately asses the

situation. In this regard, I can state that Côte d’Ivoire

received a visit in January and February 2004 from the

special rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and

expression, the elimination of racial discrimination and

migrants and mercenaries. During their missions, they

had full and total cooperation from the authorities in

25

Côte d’Ivoire. The same is true for the international

commission of inquiry into allegations of violations of

human rights of 25 and 26 March 2004, and the

national commission of inquiry set up in June 2004 to

shed light on all alleged human rights violations

committed in Côte d’Ivoire since 19 September 2002.

That latter commission, which has just concluded its

work, should shed light on all allegations of human

rights violations in Côte d’Ivoire, including those

recently committed in Korhogo.

Moreover, the National Assembly of Côte

d’Ivoire, for its part, has established a parliamentary

commission of inquiry designed to investigate the

events of 19 December 2002 and subsequent events, in

order to achieve, we all hope, genuine peace and

reconciliation. National peace and reconciliation are

incompatible with impunity. The international

community should therefore assist Côte d’Ivoire in

identifying the perpetrators of human rights and

international humanitarian law violations in order to

bring them to justice before the competent authorities.

We are starting afresh; we can now lay down the

burden of our past concerns to embark on the path of

hope. All citizens of Côte d’Ivoire without exception

are determined to silence those rivalries that only

spawn hate and rancour and to pool our efforts in the

service of peace through dialogue. This is why we are

counting on the ongoing support of the international

community for our efforts at consolidating inter-

Ivorian dialogue, the principal means for a restoration

of confidence, peace and national reconciliation.

The Government of Côte d’Ivoire therefore takes

note of the statement to the press today by the

President of the Security Council on the situation in

Côte d’Ivoire, a statement that our Government

considers as a step forward to finding a rapid solution

to the crisis. Côte d’Ivoire is also counting on the

assistance of international financial institutions and of

developed countries for the implementation of the

national programme of reconstruction and, in

particular, of disarmament, demobilization and

reintegration.

Allow me to indicate here that the security index

of the United Nations at its present level is

unfortunately a factor that is not facilitating contacts

and therefore the start of negotiations with

international financial institutions. A review that would

lower this level would be most welcome.

I would like to take advantage of this opportunity

to reiterate yet once again the gratitude of the people

and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to the

international community, in particular to France, the

United States, Canada, all other friendly countries, the

United Nations, the International Organization of la

Francophonie, the European Union, the African Union

and ECOWAS for their invaluable contributions, which

have made it possible to overcome so many obstacles

to date.

The situation in Côte d’Ivoire is not preventing us

from seeing what is taking place elsewhere, above all

on the African continent. The West African subregion

is facing crises in Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone

and Côte d’Ivoire. Glimmers of hope for shortly

putting an end to these situations do exist, but that

optimism is clearly tempered by the continuation of

such scourges as trafficking in children, drug

trafficking, trafficking in small arms, mercenaries,

child soldiers and terrorism, to name only these few.

Thus, the strengthening of a coordinated battle against

these scourges, under the aegis of ECOWAS and with

the assistance of the international community, is

necessary.

Côte d’Ivoire is a party to all existing conflict

prevention and management mechanisms and intends

to be fully involved in all initiatives undertaken to

promote peace and stability on the global, continental

and regional level. In that framework, it is contributing

to the drawing up of a strategy for a pacification and

stabilization of the West African region. The situation

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi,

Darfur in Somalia, the Middle East, and Iraq cannot be

ignored and require sustained attention on the part of

the international community. They also undeniably

demonstrate the need for a strengthening of

multilateralism in the settlement of the conflicts

battering the world.

Regarding a reform of the United Nations, and

particularly reform of the Security Council, I should

like to reaffirm the support of Côte d’Ivoire for the

shared African position, voiced several times here from

this rostrum, in favour of an expanded Security

Council with two permanent seats and three other non-

permanent seats for Africa.

The countries of the Third World, which must

cope with numerous difficulties, clearly cannot achieve

the Millennium Development Goals while 2015 is

26

rapidly approaching. However, far from being

overcome by defeatism, Africa has acquired a new

instrument for development, the New Partnership for

Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and its

recommendations are integrated into national and

subregional development and anti-poverty strategies.

The African continent awaits the international

community’s implementation of commitments resulting

from the major international conferences, in particular

those undertaken by the Group of Eight for NEPAD.

I would like to conclude my remarks with an

appeal for solidarity to all, given the numerous dangers

threatening peace and international security. In that

context, Côte d’Ivoire urges respect for commitments

and peace agreements concluded together by all States.

In the view of my country, this active and relentless

commitment to preventing conflicts includes at least

three elements: preventive diplomacy, based on a

system of early warning; education for peace; and,

finally, the struggle against poverty in order to ensure

sustainable development. Therefore, once the

conditions for a peaceful existence have thus been

fulfilled, the entire world will be able to move forward

towards a world of shared well-being and happiness.