COTE D’IVOIRE: VIOLENCE WILL WORSEN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

COTE D’IVOIRE:  VIOLENCE WILL WORSEN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

NEW YORK, 3 December (OCHA) –- With tensions rising in Abidjan, Jan Egeland, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, expressed his concern for civilians trapped in that country’s conflict.  “If the country lapses back into war, it will only compound the suffering of civilians.  I urge all parties to bring an end to the fighting immediately to prevent a humanitarian crisis from worsening.”

Côte d’Ivoire, long West Africa’s leading economy and a beacon of tolerance, was thrown into a humanitarian crisis when conflict broke out after a failed coup in September 2002.  Law and order broke down, the economy stagnated, basic services faltered, hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes, and human rights abuses were widespread.   The country began to stabilize in mid-2003 and humanitarian agencies were meeting an increasing amount of needs.  As the peace process stalled later in 2003, security began to break down, especially in the north and west, and ethnic tensions heightened.

Mr. Egeland also voiced his concern over recent events in the west of Côte d’Ivoire, where increased tensions between various ethnic groups have erupted into violence.  Last month in Gagnoa, some 100 kilometres north-west of Abidjan, more than 200 resident farmers were driven from their land.  “Attacking people for the sole reason that they are from a particular ethnic group cannot be tolerated.  I call on all parties to the conflict to actively bring an end to violence directed against civilians”, Mr. Egeland said.

A breakdown in law in order, particularly in the north, could jeopardize people’s ability to feed themselves.  “Violence poses a threat to people’s food security.  Harassment and “taxes” imposed by armed groups at checkpoints and roadblocks are hindering the free flow of produce from north to south”, he said.  “Food is being grown, but farmers can’t bring their goods to market and their usual customers have become too poor to buy them”, Mr. Egeland said.

     For further information, please call:   Froydis Dybdahl, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – Abidjan, tel.:  225 22 44 40; Brian Grogan, OCHA New York, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 472 4570.

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