IOM formalises its presence

Training government officials in the management of migratory flows and developing a database on migrants are among services the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) aims to offer Cote d'Ivoire should its authorities request them, a senior IOM official said on Friday in Abidjan. "IOM could also help to create an interface between the government and the Ivorian diaspora" in Africa, Europe and elsewhere, Ms Ndioro Ndiaye, IOM's deputy director, said at the signing of a headquarters agreement between the international organisation and the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire. The agreement, which formalises the establishment of an IOM office in the West African country, was co-signed by Cote d'Ivoire's Minister of State for Foreign Relations and Ivorians Abroad, Abou Dramane Sangare. Cote d'Ivoire has one of the largest migrant populations in Africa. Over a quarter of its population is made up of foreigners and, according to Sangare, the country hosts 80 percent of all immigrants in West Africa. IOM had already been active since 2000 in Cote d'Ivoire, where it has been assisting the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the repatriation of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees. It also runs, on behalf of UNHCR, a shelter in Abidjan for refugees who lost their homes when security forces destroyed shanties following the outbreak on 17 September of a mutiny that developed into a rebellion. The authorities said the demolitions were necessary because the mutineers had attacked security forces from nearby shantytowns. Sangare said Cote d'Ivoire hoped to benefit from IOM's databases on migrants with regard to the some 500,000 Ivorians abroad, national and international migratory flows, immigrants' rights and issues relating to the traffic in labour, women and children. In addition to helping countries to manage migratory flows IOM also seeks to enable them to derive greater benefit from their migrants abroad through its Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) programme. Under the programme, whose aim is to transfer skills and resources from the African diaspora to support development in Africa, African professionals abroad return home for up to four months to share their knowledge and expertise.