UN multi-disciplinary mission arrives

A UN multi-disciplinary mission arrived in Abidjan over the weekend to examine various options for a further UN role in restoring peace and stability to Cote d'Ivoire. It includes the departments of political affairs, peacekeeping operations, High Commissioner for Refugees and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The two-week mission will assess requirements for disarmament and demobilisation of Ivorian armed groups and for sustainable reintegration of ex-combatants and assess security requirements for the return of Ivorian refugees, internally displaced persons and other refugees in the country. It will also evaluate the roles of public and private media, assess the current humanitarian situation, develop humanitarian access strategies and examine the economic impact of the crisis on Cote d'Ivoire and neighbouring countries. The mission will meet government, political, civil society and rebel leaders, to discuss what roles the UN could play in efforts to restore peace and security within the framework of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. It will also travel to key interior towns to get first-hand knowledge of the situation. Established in accordance with a decision of the Security Council on 28 January, the mission will after the visit, submit its recommendations to the Council. On Friday, the Council in New York, re-affirmed its support for theLinas-Marcoussis Agreement and urged all parties to the Ivorian conflict to implement it fully and without delay. Meanwhile, Cote d'Ivoire was still awaiting its new government on Monday, despite continuing hard-line rhetoric which has been witnessed since the peace agreement. The new Prime Minister Seydou Diarra who returned from Paris on Sunday was expected to propose the new governmentto President Laurent Gbagbo to approve. But the rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) said it was not willing to renegotiate the sticking point in the agreement, notably the reported allocation to it of the cabinet posts of defense and interior. Another rebel group, Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West, one of the two movements operating in western Cote d'Ivoire since last November also said Gbagbo should not "not to take out a single comma" from the agreement or else they would resume hostilities. On Monday however, government supporters, including some of the daily newspapers, reaffirmed that they were against the entry of rebels into the government. In a related development, Justice Minister Desire Tagro, denied a report on Cote d'Ivoire by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights following a fact-finding mission late last year. According to Tagro, the report was "light on proof" and "riddled with imprecisions". Tagro denied the reported existence of "death squads" - a reference to an unknown group of armed men "in military uniform" who have since 19 September operated at night, kidnapping and killing civilians. The UN report had urged the government to stop the squads from continuing to kill civilians. "If you have proof that an organisation has been created to kill in Coted'Ivoire, tell me", Tagro said during a press conference on Saturday. He however acknowledged that "there are some killers" but insisted that they should not be labeled "death squads", saying "We have not reached that stage yet." The UN human rights report