Follow-up Committee welcomes advances, deplores attacks

A committee set up to monitor compliance with efforts towards a peaceful resolution of Cote d'Ivoire's seven-month-old conflict has expressed satisfaction at recent developments within the country's new government of national reconciliation but deplored the continuation of attacks in the west of the country. Committee welcomes completion of cabinet In a communique dated 18 April, the Comite de Suivi (Follow-up Committee) expressed its "great satisfaction and encouragement following the meeting of the cabinet of ministers on 17 April 2003, which saw for the first time the effective participation of all ministers already nominated to the government of national reconciliation". The formation of a government of national reconciliation including Cote d'Ivoire's main political parties and its three rebel groups resulted from an agreement they reached in January at a meeting in Linas-Marcoussis, France. Thursday marked the first time that the representatives of all groups included in the new government had taken up their posts in the cabinet. The last ministers to join the cabinet were those nominated by the rebel groups, which had cited security concerns for the delay. The Comite de Suivi was established to monitor compliance with the Linas-Marcoussis agreement. It includes representatives of the European Union, France, the Group of Eight (G-8), the African Union, Economic Community of West African States and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cote d'Ivoire. In its communique it also congratulated a statement by the government calling for an immediate cessation of all acts of belligerence which, it recalled, followed a similar call by President Laurent Gbagbo. Committee deplores attacks, use of helicopter gunships However, the committee said it deplored the fact that "attacks coming from all parties had continued over the past few days despite the appeals it had already launched on 7 and 10 April for an end to armed clashes and respect for commitments signed on 17 October 2002 and 13 January 2003". A ceasefire concluded on 17 October 2002 with the main rebel Mouvement patriotique de Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI - Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire) which controls most of northern Cote d'Ivoire has held to a large extent. However, fighting has continued in the west of the country despite a January 2003 ceasefire with rebel groups which operate there - the Mouvement populaire ivoirien du Grand Ouest (MPIGO - Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West) and the Mouvement pour la Justice et la Paix (MJP - Movement for Justice and Peace). "The Committee deplores in particular the use, despite the denials by the Armed Forces Staff of MI 24 helicopter gunships in Zouan-Hounien, Sepidou, Sanguinare and Vavoua, thus causing numerous victims among the population," the communique stated. The towns and areas referred to in the communique are rebel-held locations in western Cote d'Ivoire. It added: "The committee insists that the appeals of the president of the republic (11 April) and the Cabinet of Ministers (17 April) be acted upon immediately. It reiterates its express demand for the MI 24 helicopters to be grounded without delay at the base in Abidjan", Cote d'Ivoire's economic capital.