13 Aug 2012

COTE D'IVOIRE / MINES

A year afterCôte d'Ivoire's post-electoral crisis, the West African country has undertaken an environmental cleanup of dangerous military sites, including stockpiles of landmines. UNOCI

Posted at: August 13, 2012 4:46 pm

Duration: 02:26

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: COTE D'IVOIRE / MINES
TRT: 2.26
SOURCE: UNOCI
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 JULY 2012, TOUMODI, NORTH LOMO, COTE D'IVOIRE

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, place of landmine destruction 
2. Tracking shot, officer of the NGO Halo Trust placing the wire connecting the mines to detonator
3. Tracking shot, wire
4. Tilt up, army officer explaining the composition of a landmine
5. Pan right, different types of landmines
6. Wide shot, group of militaries 
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Cote d'Ivoire Army Officer:
"It is on instruction of the general force commander of the Republican forces of Côte d'Ivoire that we have undertaken a major operation for a year of cleaning up dangerous military sites, and that includes the program of landmine destruction."
8. Wide shot, people gathered to watch landmine destruction
9. Wide shot, representatives of international organizations looking at the place of destruction
10. SOUNDBITE (French) UN Officer:
"This is a strong signal the country is sending to the international community with regard to the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production, transfer of landmines and of their destruction."
11. Wide shot, militaries looking at the destruction
12. Med shot, representative of the NGO Halo Trust and a soldier discussing
13. Med shot, photographer setting up
14. Med shot, a military filming with an iPhone
15. Wide shot, cameraman filming 
16. Wide shot, explosion
17. Med shot, trail of smoke
18. Wide shot, crater of the explosion
19. Zoom out, a soldier jumping into the crater

STORYLINE:

A year after Côte d'Ivoire's post-electoral crisis, the West African country has undertaken an environmental cleanup of dangerous military sites, including stockpiles of landmines.

SOUNDBITE (French) Côte d'Ivoire Army Officer:
"It is on instruction of the general force commander of the Republican forces of Côte d'Ivoire that we have undertaken a major operation for a year of cleaning up dangerous military sites, and that includes the program of landmine destruction."

Côte d'Ivoire became a signatory to the Ottawa convention banning the stockpile, use and transfer of landmines in 1997. In 2000, Côte d'Ivoire ratified the agreement, which requires all signatory countries to destroy their stocks of landmines and clear all laid antipersonnel landmines within ten years.

SOUNDBITE (French) UN Officer:
"This is a strong signal the country is sending to the international community with regard to the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production, transfer of landmines and of their destruction."

The United Nations first deployed mine action staff to Côte d'Ivoire in April 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the post-electoral crisis, in order to conduct an emergency assessment of the situation with regards to explosive remnants of war.

Côte d'Ivoire has been making significant advances towards peace, stability and development since 2011, the top UN official in the country reported last month. But a spate of recent attacks by armed groups on military bases, police stations, UN peacekeepers and a camp for displaced people has added to a volatile security situation.

National reconciliation remains an important challenge, Special Representative of the United Nations to Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), Bert Koenders told the UN Security Council in July.