UN to send in more blue helmets

The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire will be reinforced with an additional 1,500 uniformed personnel, according to a UN Security Council resolution announced at the weekend.

After meeting on Friday, the council authorised the reinforcement of the current 7,500-strong mission with a maximum of 1,025 troops and 475 police. The country has been divided in two for more than three years, with rebels holding the north and loyalists the south.

The reinforcements fall short of the 3,400 troops requested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this year to ward off new outbreaks of violence in the run-up to presidential elections planned for October.

Citing "serious concern at the persistence of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire and of obstacles to the peace and reconciliation process from all sides", the 15-member body said that the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire continued to pose a threat to regional security.

Last week, mediators from the African Union (AU) also expressed concern over the slow implementation of a peace plan that tasks new Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny with the disarmament of rebels and pro-government militia, the identification of all Ivorians living without identity papers, and the organisation of elections.

"We have five months before the elections [and] a lot of issues like demilitarisation and identification have to be resolved first," said ambassador Olusegun Akinsanya of Nigeria, who chaired the AU meeting.

The current peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire comprises a total 6,703 troops, 191 military observers and 707 police.

pb/ccr/ss