PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S HUMANITARIAN ENVOY FOR CÔTE D’IVOIRE

With tensions simmering between the Ivorian Government and the “New Forces” opposition, the latest round of talks aimed at ending the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire were at a standstill, and with civilians in rebel-held areas still cut off from basic services, the challenge was to convince donors to provide funding for the ongoing humanitarian efforts, the top United Nations Envoy for the country said today.

Briefing reporters at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy for the Côte d’Ivoire crisis, said that, while relief agencies enjoyed full access throughout the country -- ensuring timely delivery of aid -- with no end to the political standoff in sight, the responsibility devolved to the international community to ease the suffering of those people trapped in rebel-held areas who are still without electricity, access to farmland or educational facilities.

Ms. McAskie said that, when the Secretary-General had tapped her for the post in 2002, she never believed the Ivorian crisis would have lingered for more than a year.  Just back from her fourth follow-up and evaluation mission to the region, she said it was clear that the crisis was man-made –- with a handful of people struggling for political power to the severe detriment of the wider civilian population.

She said that the New Forces -– formally Forces Nouvelles –- had pulled out of recent talks with the Ivorian Government, charging President Laurent Gbagbo of not honouring his recent agreement to end the war by next Monday and to fully implement a French-brokered peace accord reached in January.

The Envoy agreed that President Gbagbo had been “playing games” and “tinkering” with elements of the Lineas-Marcoussis Agreement to the point where the New Forces had left Abidjan and returned to their northern stronghold of Bouake.  And while yesterday, she had thought that new arrangements between the parties would be forthcoming, she was concerned about reports of deadly overnight clashes.

“(Monday) the 15th is my birthday”, Ms. McAskie said, “and when I met with the President, I told him that he would give a birthday present to the Humanitarian Envoy if he ended the war by Monday.”  But today was Friday, “and it looks like that’s not going to happen”, she said, stressing that she still believed the root of the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire was a lack of political leadership.  “The crisis can be solved with real political will”, she declared.

Along with President Gbagbo and New Forces leaders, Ms. McAskie said she had also met with heads of United Nations agencies and a broad range of national and international relief workers, drawing attention to issues including the protection and return of internally displaced persons and the need for services such as education, and health to be restored, especially in the north and west.  She also raised the issue of land disputes, which had recently led to the expulsion of some farmers, emphasizing the need to find long-term solutions.

Today, she echoed one of the major goals of her mission, the need to mobilize contributions totalling $59 million for the United Nations 2004 Consolidated Appeal for Côte d’Ivoire.  Hoping to rejuvenate interest in the humanitarian side of the conflict, she also urged the international community to realize that the situation might deteriorate if the vital needs of almost a million people were not filled.

She stressed that, while the food elements of the appeal had been largely met, other aspects, including the health support and education and funding for internally displaced persons, remained unfulfilled.  Even her own office in the country was barely 10 per cent funded –- with even less money devoted for staff equipment and security -- despite the fact that field offices for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) were generally close to 100 per cent funded elsewhere.

Yet, she stressed that it was time that the Ivorian leadership “must begin to think about the quality of life of the people”, because, as the political impasse deepened, all humanitarian and social services were frozen in the north where large segments of the population did not have access to basic health services or banking and where the electric companies were providing power free of charge in a few places just to provide some relief.  Her final assessment was that the political situation would grind on slowly; the humanitarian problems would remain chronic; “and we will be looking at problems in Côte d’Ivoire for some time”.

Responding to questions, Ms. McAskie said her office needed certain equipment in order to ensure that security measures for United Nations staff were in place.  Communications equipment was also needed, but so far, the Appeal had not generated any funding to cover those aspects –- “a bad message”, she added.

Looking purely at the human aspect of the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, she also said the United Nations position was that people affected by crisis had the right to humanitarian assistance.  That should be equally true of Côte d’Ivoire as it was for Iraq.  People were suffering because of the actions of political players on the ground, and while the world body was trying to encourage the political dialogue, it was incumbent upon the international community to provide for the needs of the general population.

Strategically, she said she had tried to make the point to the Ivorian Government that the longer it ignored the situation in the north and other rebel-held areas, the more detached the civilian populations there would become from legitimate government processes.  The longer those people were denied central government services, the more inflamed their separatist tendencies would become.  As it was, the people in the north were already developing closer links with Mali and Burkina Faso that they were with Abidjan.  In the long run, that would cause problems, particularly with elections coming up in 2005.

While praising the ongoing efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and French-led forces, Ms. McAskie said it was her sense that the presence of an enlarged United Nations peacekeeping force offered hope for a better resolution.  That was also the impression she got from both sides during her meeting in the region.  The West African forces had done “awfully well, but they need help”, she said, “they simply do not have the equipment or the resources”.  An expanded peacekeeping mission would help bring the parties together.

* *** *