(CORRECTED) Security Council creates UN military mission

Note to subscribers: IRIN's story of May 14 headlined "COTE D'IVOIRE - UN cuts size of military mission to 26" erroneously stated that the size of the UN military mission to Cote d'Ivoire had been cut to 26 officers from a planned 75. The corrected story makes clear that although 26 military personnel would be sent to Cote d'Ivoire in the first instance, the Security Council resolution allowed for the dispatch of up to 50 more, should this be considered necessary) Determining that the situation in Cote d'Ivoire is a threat to international peace and security in West Africa, the Security Council on Tuesday decided to establish a United Nations mission in that country. It said the new mission would include a military component, complementing the operations of French peace-keeping forces in the country and the forces of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Council stressed that the military liaison group should be initially composed of 26 military officers and that up to 50 additional officers might be progressively deployed when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan determined that there was a need and security conditions permitted. The Security Council meanwhile postponed sending a team of its members on a tour of seven West African countries. Council President Munir Akram of Pakistan said the tour of West Africa by a committee of ambassadors to the UN from member states of the Security Council had been postponed for logistical reasons. However, he said the mission would go ahead within the next few weeks. The Security Council mission had been due to arrive in Nigeria on Thursday, before going on to visit Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Its aim was to demonstrate the council's continuing interest in West Africa, where the civil war in Liberia has played a key role in destabilising neighbouring states. The Security Council said in a statement that the military mission to Cote d'Ivoire would facilitate the implementation of a French-brokered peace accord between the government and rebel forces which have seized control in the north of the country. The peace agreement,signed in January, led to a ceasefire and the creation of a government of national unity last month. The Security Council said the UN observers would complement 4,000 French peace-keeping troops and 1,200 sent by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). "The tasks of the military group include advising the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Albert Tevoedjre, on military matters, monitoring the military situation including the security of Liberian refugees," the Council said. The UN military officers will also build confidence and trust between armed Ivorian groups and support the early disengagement, disarmament and demobilization of combatants. The Council urged other countries in West Africa to refrain from involvement in the Ivorian conflict and it called on all factions in to stop using mercenaries and child fighters. Cote d'Ivoire slid into civil war following a failed 19 September coup attempt. The conflict has drawn in fighters from neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone and has displaced an estimated 750,000 people internally. Up to 500,000 more have fled to neighbouring countries.