UN Security Council tightens arms embargo, orders weapons inventory

The United Nations Security Council has tightened an arms embargo on Cote d'Ivoire and ordered government and rebel forces to provide an inventory of their weapons by mid-March to aid eventual disarmament. The resolution, drafted by former colonial power France and adopted unanimously by the 15-nation body on Tuesday, gives more than 10,000 UN and French peacekeepers the powers to stop and search cargo at any sea port, airfield, military base and border crossing in the West African nation. Cote d'Ivoire has been split into a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south since a failed coup two and a half years ago pushed the country into civil war. The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo last November after government planes bombed rebel strongholds, shattering an 18-month ceasefire. The latest resolution by the Council gives this embargo more teeth. The Ivorian government and the New Forces rebel movement now have 45 days to compile a list of all armaments in their possession as well those owned by paramilitary groups and militia associated with them. "These lists would….assist in regrouping all the Ivorian forces and in implementing the national programme for the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants," the UN said in a statement. But disarmament still looks like a remote prospect in the divided nation, with the rebels reluctant to hand over their one bargaining chip. The latest deadline for the disarmament process to start -- 15 January -- came and went without weapons being turned in. An African Union (AU) mediation initiative, led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, is still battling to get disarmament completed by the beginning of April. That task is being made harder by the fact that the nine rebel ministers have been boycotting cabinet meetings for the last three months. They say their security cannot be guaranteed in Abidjan, the largest city where President Laurent Gbagbo has his presidential palace. On Tuesday, South African officials travelled up to the rebel-stronghold of Bouake to discuss the return of rebel ministers to government and the start of disarmament. But they left again without extracting a commitment on either issue. "The New Forces want to bring their own security to Abidjan, which of course raises its own problems. President Gbagbo is unlikely to accept that," a South African diplomat in Abidjan told IRIN on Wednesday. "And only once the ministers are back, does the DDR process have a chance of being attended to," he added. The South African diplomat said the mediation team would return to Bouake on Monday to try to break the deadlock. Diplomats in New York said Tuesday's resolution was aimed at guaranteeing there would be no military solution to Cote d'Ivoire's standoff and to help push the warring parties further onto the political path to peace. A row blew up last month after the UN allowed Gbagbo to transfer warplanes knocked out of action by French peacekeepers in November, from Yamoussoukro, the official capital of Cote d'Ivoire, to Abidjan. Gbagbo's aides immediately announced plans to repair the damaged jet bombers and helicopter gunships, prompting howls of protest from the rebels and, after some hesitation, a statement from the UN saying such repairs had not been authorised. The Security Council had twice postponed a vote on the French resolution, once on Friday and again on Monday, to give Mbeki time to brief an African leaders at an AU summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. At the AU's request, the Security Council has held off imposing personal travel bans and asset freezes on individuals who are viewed as blocking the peace process, violating human rights and whipping up hatred in the media.