Annan appeals for financial support for peacekeepers

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed on Wednesday for 43 million euros (about US $48 million) to help sustain the West African peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire for the next six months, expand its role and triple its size to 3,300 troops. Addressing the Security Council at the start of a meeting to discuss the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire, which is emerging from a seven-month civil war, Annan said the money would provide the mission - established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) - with additional resources to fulfill an expanded mandate. Its extended role would include protection of the government and border patrols, particularly along the troubled western border with Liberia, a press release from the Council said. The peacekeeping force would also take responsibility for demobilising and disarming militias, creating conditions for the recently installed government of national reconciliation to have full control of the territory, it added. The force, dubbed ECOFORCE, was dispatched early this year to monitor the implementation of a peace accord signed in Linas-Marcoussis, France. This led to the setting up of a new government earlier this month, which includes representatives of President Laurent Gbagbo, the civilian opposition and Cote d'Ivoire's three rebel movements. "At this critical time, when the various Ivorian parties have at last begun taking important steps to implement the Linas-Marcoussis accord, ECOWAS has found it necessary to decide on a substantial increase in the size of ECOFORCE in order to make it more effective," Annan said. ECOWAS had earlier decided that it was necessary to expand the force from the present 1,200 to 3,300 soldiers. Annan also recommended the establishment of a small UN operation in the country to complement the peacekeeping efforts. The operation would comprise military liaison components, as well as human rights, civil affairs and media. Wednesday's Council session was also addressed by Ministers for Foreign Affairs ministers from ECOWAS members: Guinea, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, including the body's executive secretary, Mohammed Ibn Chambas. In his speech, Chambas noted that a common theme in many recent Council discussions had been the link between instability and deepening poverty. According to him, the easy availability of small arms and the linkage between prolonged crises and the readiness of unemployed youths and mercenaries to take part in conflicts were other important issues. Ivorian Foreign Minister Baba Mamadou said that it had not been easy restoring confidence among the groups involved in the fighting. There were still concerns regarding the situation in the west, where rebels from Liberia and Sierra Leone were present. Annan said the ECOWAS delegation had been to Washington DC and would go to Europe on Thursday to press the case for financing a larger peace-keeping force. The tour would conclude with a donors' conference in Brussels on 12 May. A Security Council mission is slated to visit Cote d'Ivoire and its neighbours Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Ghana in late May.