Local government officers return to rebel-held north

Four key local government officers who fled south after civil war erupted four years ago have returned to Cote d’Ivoire’s rebel-held north, at least temporarily, under a UN-backed peace plan. “We came to say ‘welcome’. Everyone is waiting for you to resume your work in serenity and security. Your offices and your missions wait for you as always,” said Sidiki Konate, speaking for the rebel New Forces after the local government officers, or ‘prefects’, arrived in the town of Bouake. The UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (ONUCI) flew the two prefects and two assistant prefects to the rebel-stronghold of Bouake on a UN helicopter on Tuesday. They are to help monitor public hearings aimed at establishing the identity of some 3.5 million undocumented Ivorians. Citizenship is at the heart of the Ivorian conflict, which was triggered, in part, over resentment toward West African immigrants employed in Cote d’Ivoire who supported the political opposition. When asked how long the four officials would be staying in the north, prefect Sam Ettiasse said: “Everything depends on the administrative authorities. We came for the hearings.” Observers say people have thronged to the hearings in Bouake and other areas in the north to receive their identity documents. Although protests have forced a halt to hearings in the main city of Abidjan, they have continued in other parts of the government-held south and southeast. Civilian administration has not existed in the north since an attempted coup in September 2002 triggered the civil war, which has divided the country. The rebel New Forces control the north and the government of President Laurent Gbagbo controls the south. Gbagbo’s ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) is boycotting the hearings in the south, saying disarmament of the rebels must begin first. Gbagbo supporters, known as Young Patriots, barricaded streets in Abidjan to protest the hearings. Political violence erupted in various towns in the south last week. The FPI said the absence of government administrators in the north would allow people to fraudulently gain citizenship and thus affect the outcome of presidential elections scheduled for October. The hearings will serve to help update voter rolls for the election, which observers say will likely be postponed. ONUCI is overseeing the country’s peace process, including helping reestablish civil authority in the north. It helped re-deploy 6,000 civil servants in the west among some 23,000 state workers displaced by the war. Some 10,000 UN and French peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the north and south. aa/pb/cs/ss