PRESS CONFERENCE BY CÔTE D’IVOIRE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CÔTE D’IVOIRE

A parliamentary delegation being sent to Côte d'Ivoire would review appropriate ways to assist the tenuous transition process in that country, the President of Parliamentarians for Global Action, Shazia Rafi, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.  Ms. Rafi was joined at the press conference by the Chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Mission of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations, Ahipeaud Guebo.

Following contentious presidential and parliamentary elections, and a recent coup d'état attempt in Côte d'Ivoire, the six-member delegation would explore appropriate ways to lend the expertise and support of Parliamentarians for Global Action's Task Force on Africa and Democracy, she said.  The delegation included:  Theresa Ameley Tagoe of Ghana; Emma Bonino of Italy; Moustapha Ka of Senegal; Albert Koenders of the Netherlands; Yves Rochleau of Canada; and Oumou Ba Sangare of Mali.  The delegation will be in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire from 24 February to

1 March.

Parliamentarians for Global Action is an independent organization of some 1,300 legislators from 99 countries who work in their individual capacity to promote international peace, security, democracy and development.  The Task Force on Africa and Democracy was founded in 1991 in Abidjan and has worked on such issues as conflict management and democratic transition in Burundi, Gambia, Gabon, Haiti and Togo. 

Ms. Rafi said delegates would be meeting with the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who was also one of the founding members of Parliamentarians for Global Action.  The delegation would also be meeting with members of the President's cabinet, parliamentarians and political leaders from the governing and opposition parties, religious leaders, civil society and the diplomatic community.

The goal of preventive action missions was to see what legislators and politicians with experience in the transition process could do to assist their colleagues, she said.  President Gbagbo was a long-standing member of Parliamentarians for Global Action and had been a founding member of the Task Force.  He and some of the members of the delegation had had long-standing relationships through the work of Parliamentarians for Global Action.  

"We are going there to help in assisting -- in whatever ways are appropriate -- his Government, as well as the talks taking place right now on reconciliation with all segments of society", Ms. Rafi said.  Following the conclusion of its work, the delegation would hold a press conference in Abidjan on 1 March, at which time it would issue a statement on its work.

In response to a question, Ms. Rafi said that Parliamentarians for Global Action had never sent a delegation for a government's public relations purposes.  Missions were sent to assist -- at the level of parliament, politicians and legislators -- in a process which had run into problems.  The current delegation was an exploratory mission to assess where the situation currently stood and what

specific aid the institution could lend, both in terms of achieving better reconciliation, as well as finding a way out of the current impasse. 

The composition of the delegation had been determined from that perspective as well, she added.  In addition to including members from outside of the region, the delegation also included members from West Africa.  She commended the Government of Côte d'Ivoire because it had been open to including members from countries currently experiencing differences of opinion.  The delegation would be meeting with all parties -- those in the parliament, as well as those not in the parliament.

Who was paying for the delegation? a correspondent asked.  Ms. Rafi said that the delegation was part of a project funded by the governments of the Netherlands and Canada.  The Task Force on Africa and Democracy had a preventive diplomacy programme, which was funded by the Netherlands and Canada.  Parliamentarians for Global Action was a non-profit organization, whose members joined on an individual basis.

What criteria had been used to select the delegation's membership? a correspondent asked.  Parliamentarians for Global Action had alerted members who had already indicated an interest in terms of the nature of the work and the specific region, Ms. Rafi said.  Limited funding had meant that space on the delegation was also limited.  Members were asked to indicate their interest level on a "first-come, first-served" basis.  In the case of the Côte d'Ivoire delegation, members had to speak French and had to have been to West Africa, particularly to Côte d'Ivoire.  Members of the delegation also had to have experience in missions of similar complexity.  Parliamentarians for Global Action then tried to balance the delegation by including members from the region itself and from donor countries.

Asked to comment on possible changes under the new administration in Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Guebo said that the current political party in power, the Front Populaire, had worked on political and social programmes in Côte d'Ivoire for some 30 years.  Each year the programme had been updated.  Social problems in the country had led to the 1999 coup d'état. 

Regarding some areas in which the new Government was prepared to bring change, he said that there was currently no systematic health policy.  The new Government had decided to create a programme in which anyone living in the country could receive medical attention.  People would pay a tax, which would be used to build hospitals, for example.  Regarding education, a new programme under the Government would make it possible for everyone to attend school at least until the third year of high school.  The new Government did not want people to feel obliged to leave school, as had been the case.  

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