UN holds back on sanctions, giving Mbeki extra time

A deadline for United Nations sanctions against Cote d’Ivoire came and went this week with no punitive action bar a sharp warning from the Security Council, which is giving South African President Thabo Mbeki extra time to mediate peace. As the midnight 15 December deadline passed, a statement from the Security Council “deplored the fact that the parties have not implemented all their commitments”, and warned that a special UN committee was busy listing those Ivorian leaders who will face a travel ban and assets freeze if quick progress is not made to end the two-year conflict. The statement set no new time for compliance, but Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali, the Security Council president for December, has indicated that the UN preference would be to give more time to the African Union’s peace bid, led by Mbeki. "We have decided to give President Mbeki's facilitation efforts a chance to be completed before doing anything else," he said in New York this week. Analysts have said the UN is unlikely to take any action that would undermine Mbeki’s mediation until after January 10 when the AU’s own Peace and Security Council meets to discuss Cote d’Ivoire’s troubles. In a first sign that Mbeki’s mediation was bearing fruit, documents obtained by IRIN showed that the peace process was largely on track at the moment, with key legislative reforms adopted in Abidjan on Friday, two weeks before a deadline set by the South African mediator. The brewing crisis in the world’s top cocoa producer, already split in two between a rebel-held north and loyalist south, spiralled out of control in early November when government forces shattered an 18-month cease-fire by bombing rebel positions. Mbeki went in as the African Union’s peacemaker, and last week after a five-day visit he wrangled promises out of all parties to revive a French-brokered peace agreement from 2003, known as Linas-Marcoussis, setting deadlines for each stage. He said Cote d'Ivoire's government, opposition and the New Forces rebels had agreed that political reforms should be passed, disarmament should begin, the government of national reconciliation should return to work and security should be restored to the West African nation. Mbeki insists on "speedy progress" In the South African capital, Pretoria, on Friday, Mbeki met rebel leaders from the New Forces who claimed to be carrying new proposals to break a deadlock. “We agreed on everything,” Mbeki said after the talks, adding that he aimed to reinforce his team in Cote d’Ivoire by sending special envoys to both Abidjan and to the central rebel-held town of Bouake. “Speedy progress must be made.” Meanwhile in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire's largest city, the loyalist-dominated parliament adopted legislation that may go some way to defusing ethnic tension in the country. With the current parliamentary session due to close on Friday ahead of the holiday break, members were voting on legislation that would enable the naturalization of 700,000 foreigners. Nationality is a volatile issue in Cote d’Ivoire where around a quarter of the 16.8 million people have foreign roots. Migrants largely from neighbouring countries who came attracted by the nation’s prosperity and former stability have faced growing hostility over the past decade due to the promotion of a notion of being purely Ivorian. That notion not only barred long-time migrants from owning land but in 2000 was enshrined in the constitution under Article 35, which states that presidential candidates must have two Ivorian parents. Parliament on Friday also adopted legislation to scrap the controversial clause. Under Mbeki’s deadlines for peace, the government has two months to amend the constitution. The reform is needed if opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who draws most of his support from the rebel-held north and was barred from running against Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo in the 2000 elections, is to participate in polls scheduled for October 2005. But Gbagbo often has insisted a referendum is necessary. Since Mbeki launched his mediation, there have been some other small signs of progress. Gbagbo last week banned public marches for three months, just days before some of his more militant supporters, the Young Patriots, were to take to the streets to demand that former colonial power France pull out its 5,000 peacekeeping troops.