26 Jan 2012

UN / CÔTE D’IVOIRE

UN Special Representative for Cote d’Ivoire Bert Koenders said today that the country had made significant progress towards restoring normalcy, adding that the holding of legislative elections was a major step forward in restoring constitutional order and completing the peace process. UNTV

Posted at: January 26, 2012 2:11 pm

Duration: 02:05

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / CÔTE D'IVOIRE
TRT: 2.05
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ FRENCH/ NATS

DATELINE: 26 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN building

26 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Zoom in, Security Council 
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Bert Koenders, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire:
"Remarkable progress was registered in Côte d'Ivoire towards restoring normalcy since the end of the violent post-election crisis last year. The security situation is stabilising; those displaced have started to return; the economy is starting to show resilience; and legislative elections were held successfully and I think most importantly after the crisis of last year, in relative peace, although the final results are yet to be proclaimed and certified."
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Bert Koenders, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire:
"Now that the legislative elections have taken place it is important to focus attention on some other priority areas including national reconciliation; disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration; security sector reform; consolidation of the security situation particularly in Abidjan, the west and the border areas. It is in my view also equally important to focus on addressing the root causes of the Ivorian crisis, including issues like access to land and imbalanced development. The question of impunity also remains an important concern."
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Youssoufou Bamba, Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations:
"My country more than ever is in need of the invaluable aid of the international community, with the United Nations in the forefront and particularly through the primary body of the Security Council. My Government, in the near future will present a formal request for review of the sanctions regime in Côte d'Ivoire in line with resolution 1572 for the partial or even complete lifting of the current embargo."
7. Med shot, delegates
8. Zoom out, Security Council

STORYLINE:

The top United Nations (UN) official in Côte d'Ivoire told the Security Council today (26 Jan) that the country has shown "remarkable progress"  towards restoring normalcy since the end of the violent post-election crisis last year.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Côte d'Ivoire, Bert Koenders, said that "the security situation is stabilising; those displaced have started to return; the economy is starting to show resilience and legislative elections were held successfully."

He added that "most importantly" the elections were held "in relative peace"; although he noted that "the final results are yet to be proclaimed and certified."

Koenders told the Council that it was now important to focus attention on other priorities including national reconciliation, disarmament and security sector reform. Equally important, he said, was the need to address "the root causes of the Ivorian crisis" as well as "the question of impunity."

Ivorian Ambassador Youssoufou Bamba, in his address to the Council, said that the Government will present a formal request for review of the sanctions regime "for the partial or even complete lifting of the current embargo."

Violence that erupted in Côte d'Ivoire in late 2010, when former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after he lost the UN-certified election to Alassane Ouattara, who was eventually sworn in after Gbagbo surrendered in April last year.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian priorities in Côte d'Ivoire include the implementation of the ongoing reform process in the area of security, disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion of former fighters into civilian life, as well as land tenure reform.