UN says security improves, but obstacles to lasting peace remain

Security has improved in Cote d'Ivoire following a peace agreement between the government and rebels which in January, but there are some "negative trends" in the West African country which threaten to undermine the peace process, the United Nations said. Presenting his first quarterly report on the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire (MINUCI), UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said fighting between the government and the rebels who control the north of the country, had stopped since the signing of the latest ceasefire agreement on May 3. But he added that the security situation was threatened by the activities of unofficial armed groups on both sides. Annan also noted that progress towards disarming the rebels and restoring government administration to the rebel-held north of the country had been slower than anticipated. In particular, he expressed concern at the activities of armed militia groups on the government side who were opposed to the peace agreement. "The so-called 'Young Patriots' have created serious security and human rights challenges in the capital," the Secretary General said. He also highlighted the activities of "uncontrolled" elements of the rebel army which maintain check points on main roads in the north and "freelance Liberian elements which still maintain a presence in the western region." Annan said there were disturbing signs that both sides in the now dormant conflict were rearming. He noted that the continued partitioning of the country, 11 months after rebels seized control of the north, was "perpetuating a climate of uncertainty." This in turn was reinforcing "fears about possible new hostilities," he added. Of particular concern were measures taken by the rebels to reorganise their forces into units corresponding to the gendarmerie, army and police forces of a state of administration. Listing the positive achievements of the peace process, the UN Secretary General highlighted the formation of a government of national unity in March that is due to organise fresh elections in 2005. He also cited confidence-building steps undertaken to restore trust between the government armed forces and the rebels, who are now officially referred to as "the New Forces." The adoption of an amnesty law by the national assembly on 6 August, that will allow rebel soldiers and policemen to be reincorporated into their original units and moves to start the demobilisation and disarmament process were also listed positive moves by the Secretary-General. However, he noted that the start of the disarmament process was being delayed because the rebels were linking it to the appointment of consensus figures to the vacant ministries of Defence and the Interior. On the negative side, Annan condemned the activities of some prominent figures in President Laurent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party, who have been calling for a campaign of civil disobedience against cabinet ministers affiliated with the new forces had also created tensions in the country. The most serious incident occurred on 27 June, when a mob of youths attacked the Minister for Communications and the secretary-general of the rebel Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) Guillaume Soro, at the headquarters of state television in Abidjan, the report said. The next critical stage in the development of the programme for the implementation of the French-brokered Linas-Marcousis agreement peace, Annan said, would be the submission to the national assembly of some 41 draft decrees and bills covering various reforms specificied in the peace accord. These include the redefinitition of Ivorian nationality, the reorganisation of the electoral system, the rights and freedoms of the individual and land tenure laws. The report said the humanitarian situation in the country remained worrisome. Half a million people, mainly migrant workers from Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinean migrant workers, had fled the country as a result of xenophobia and ethnic tension. In addition, an estimated 800,000 people had been internally displaced. It said a breakdown of basic social services in areas outside government control had led to a desperate situation in the north and the west. Food security had become precarious in the north and the west, where many households had been forced to consume their seed stocks, thus jeopardising production in the next planting season. The report said more than one million primary school children had seen their school year disrupted by the conflict, particularly in rebel areas. In government-controlled areas, schools continued to function and over 60,000 internally displaced children had been placed in supplementary classes established to receive the overflow. The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report on August 20.