GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CONDEMNS COUP D"ETAT IN COTE D"IVOIRE, CALLS FOR SPEEDY RESTORATION OF LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT

Press Release
GA/SM/145

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CONDEMNS COUP D’ETAT IN COTE D’IVOIRE, CALLS FOR SPEEDY RESTORATION OF LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT

The following statement was issued today by the President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), in response to the military coup d’etat in Cote d’Ivoire:

Yet another barbaric coup d’état took place in an embattled Africa, on the eve of Christmas and the new millennium.

President Henri Konan Bedié and his elected government were deposed by a former chief of staff of the army General Robert Gueï, on the 24th of December 1999.

The situation in the country continues to be unclear and the intentions of the coup makers have not been expressed fully.

It is, however, clear that President Bedié is no longer in power, and has taken refuge in the French military base of the 43rd Marine Infantry battalion stationed at Port Bouet south of Abidjan.

It is reported that his former cabinet ministers are under detention at Akouedo military camp on the outskirts of Abidjan. Their fate cannot be determined at this time.

The army junta declared the dissolution of the country's parliament, supreme court and constitutional council. This means that the constitutional order and the rule of the law in the country have been dispensed with. And a dusk –to-dawn curfew had been imposed in the administrative capital city of Abidjan and perhaps in the rest of the country.

In the light of this tragedy, I, on behalf of the United Nations General Assembly and in my own name, condemn this brutal act of nullification in the strongest possible terms and call for the speedy restoration of the legitimate government as soon as possible, as well as the strictest observance of the human rights and the civil liberties of the citizens, residents and visitors alike. All detainees held against their will in military barracks, must be released immediately without any conditions.

Now is the time for the Organization of African Unity (OAU) particularly the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) to respond, on the basis of the recent Algiers resolution, to the latest change of an elected government by force.

Condemnation is necessary, but not sufficient. Action is required now! * *** *