Implement peace agreement, Security Council urges

The UN Security Council called on Tuesday for the full and immediate implementation of a peace agreement signed on 24 January 2003 by Côte d'Ivoire's political forces and adopted by a Conference of Heads of State on Côte d'Ivoire that met in Paris on 25-26 January. The Security Council said it also "welcomed the deployment of forces of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and French troops to contribute to a peaceful solution of the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire and the implementation of the agreement", known as the Marcoussis Accord. The Council "authorized for a period of six months the ECOWAS forces, together with the French forces supporting them, to take the steps necessary to guarantee the security and freedom of movement of their personnel". The council said this authorisation was granted "under Chapter VII of the Charter", which allows peacekeepers to use force when necessary to carry out their mandate, and that it did not detract from the government's responsibility to ensure protection of civilians immediately threatened with physical violence. Opposition to the accord continues However, it was business as usual on Wednesday for groups opposed to the Marcoussis Accord. Thousands of demonstrators converged on the French Embassy in the latest of a series of protests against the pact. Wednesday's "workers' march" was preceded by protests by handicapped persons - on Tuesday - and women on Monday. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people manifested their opposition to the agreement. Smaller demonstrations were also held daily between 26 and 29 January. Cote d'Ivoire's parliament met on Tuesday to discuss the agreement, but various parties represented in the legislature failed to adopt a common position on the pact. Some reserved judgement until President Laurent Gbagbo delivered on a promise, which he made before leaving Paris for Abidjan on 26 January, to address the nation on the agreement. However, the ruling Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) expressed total opposition to the pact. Supporters of the government have accused France of putting undue pressure on Gbagbo to approve the agreement, and to make concessions to the rebels, including allocating them the defence and interior ministry portfolios in a proposed government of national reconciliation (GNR). FPI parliamentarian Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, spouse of the president, said on Tuesday on France 2, a French television channel that the accord was a problem and that it was better to leave it and seek a solution on the basis of proposals the head of state had formulated before Marcoussis. These include a GNR including all main political parties and the holding of a referendum on proposed constitutional changes relating to eligibility for election as president, nationality and land ownership. France, she added, "should just be calm and not be involved in our affairs. It has caused us enough problems as it is (...) Ivorians are not afraid of war. Today all France can do, if it refuses to help us kick the assailants [rebels] out, is to step aside." The agreement The agreement reached in Linas-Marcoussis, France, by representatives of eight political parties, including the ruling FPI, and the country's three rebel groups provides for the establishment of the GNR. The new government's tasks, according to the agreement, would include strengthening the independence of the judiciary, restoring public administration and services throughout the country, split in three by the four-month old rebellion: the Mouvement patriotique de Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) occupies the mainly Muslim north and part of the centre, including Bouake, the country's second largest town. The predominantly Christian south, which includes the commercial capital, Abidjan, and the political capital, Yamassoukro, is under governmental control. Two smaller rebel groups, the Mouvement pour la Justice et la Paix (MJP) and the Mouvement patriotique ivoirien du Grand Ouest (MPIGO) control part of the west, along the border with Liberia. Under the agreement, the GNR would prepare the way for credible and transparent elections. Its tasks also include "forging an army attached to the values of integrity and republican morality" and restructuring the defence and security forces. "In order to contribute to restoring the security of persons and property throughout the national territory," the agreement states, "the government of national reconciliation shall organise the regrouping of the various forces and their disarmament". The peace pact also sets out to address issues that have divided Cote d'Ivoire's politicians and society for years, including conditions governing eligibility for election as president, the perceived disenfranchisement of northerners and Ivorians of foreign descent and nationality issues. The pact also seeks to facilitate naturalisation procedures, in particular for people who had been living in the country before independence but had failed to exercise their right to opt for Ivorian citizenship, and enable men married to Ivoirian women to become citizens. It also contains provisions related to a controversial rural land ownership law. Presidential candidates would have to be Ivorian born with at least one Ivorian parent - instead of two as provided for in the constitution. A monitoring committee is to be formed to supervise compliance with the accord. It is to include representatives of the European Union, France, the Group of Eight (G-8), the AU, ECOWAS and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General. Military oppose the pact Within hours of the adoption of the agreement, the Ivorian armed forces had slammed it as humiliating to the military and the nation. Three days of violent demonstrations followed, spearheaded by Young Patriots and other pressure groups supportive of the government, but subsequent protests have been generally peaceful. In the meantime President Gbagbo is yet to deliver on a promise to address the nation on the Marcoussis Accord, although he said early last week at a meeting with the Young Patriots that it contained proposals [rather than binding agreements]. Widespread international support for Marcoussis Support for the accord has come from various quarters, including the rebels, France, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States - which see it as a basis for resolving the Ivorian conflict - and finally the Security Council. The Council said it would assess the situation in Cote d'Ivoire on the basis of periodic reports from the ECOWAS forces and France on the implementation of their respective mandates. The Council also requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to recommend ways in which the United Nations could support the implementation of the agreement. It also welcomed the Secretary-General's intention to appoint a Special Representative for Côte d'Ivoire, based in Abidjan, and requested him to do so as soon as possible.