SECRETARY-GENERAL’S HUMANITARIAN ENVOY FOR CÔTE D’IVOIRE IN ABIDJAN TO LAUNCH NEW APPEAL

[OCHA]

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S HUMANITARIAN ENVOY FOR CÔTE D’IVOIRE

IN ABIDJAN TO LAUNCH NEW APPEAL

NEW YORK, 23 April (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs )-- In Abidjan today, Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy for theCrisis in Côte d’Ivoire , met with senior g overnment o fficials and members of the United Nationsc ountry team.  Ms. McAskie is in Cô te d’Ivoire on an eight-day mission to evaluate the current humanitarian situation and launch a new humanitarian appeal for that country.   She undertook a similar mission in January 2003 to Côte d’Ivoire and five of its neighbours:  Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea,Liberia, and Mali.

On Friday 25 M arch, Ms. McAskie will visit the Country’s volatile west to get a first-hand look at conditions there.  On Monday 29 April, Ms. McAskie will participate in the launch of the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal to meet basic humanitarian needs in Cô te d’Ivoire and five neighbouring countries.  This new appeal is covers a longer term and is more comprehensive than the Flash Appeal for Cô te d’Ivoire, which the United Nations issued in November 2002.  Humanitarian agencies received 41.5 per cent of the $22 million in funding required under the Flash Appeal.

The United Nations estimates that 750,000 Ivorians have been displaced as a result of fighting between rebels and the Government of Côte d'Ivoire that broke out in September 2002.  The resources of families hosting the displaced are being gradually overwhelmed, as fighting has caused Cô te d’Ivoire’s economy, once the engine of West Africa, to stagnate.   Migrant workers from such places as Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana havebeen forced to leave because of the conflict, compoundingthe slowdown of economies in Cô te d’Ivoire and throughout the region.  While there have been positive signs that a peace accord is taking root, consistent reports of human rights abuses against civilians continue to come in, particularly from the west of the country.    

Last week, two non-governmental organizations, Médecins Sans Frontièrs and Mé decins du Monde,reported that civilians had been injured in helicopter attackson 15 April near Danane and Mahapleu.  Médecins Sans Frontièrs reported that at least 50 civilians claiming to be victims of the attacks in western towns had been treated at the Hospital of Man.

For further information, please contact (in Abidjan); Jeff Brez, tel.:  225 2240 51 74 or Pierre Marie N'Goré, tel.:   225 2240 51 72.

* *** *