PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CÔTE D’IVOIRE

 

Teams of sharpshooters at the Hotel Ivoire, the crushed cranium of a young girl and the ripped abdomen of a pregnant women were among the images on an amateur videotape that Philippe Djangone-Bi, Permanent Representative of Côte d’Ivoire, showed correspondents at Headquarters today as examples of “French repression” in his country and “the use of heavy weapons of war against peaceful demonstrators”.

Recounting the latest developments in Côte d’Ivoire, he said that the amateur video clips, though shocking, were nevertheless the crude reality of the silent suffering of Ivorians in the absence of any serious reaction to such crimes.  Following the adoption of Security Council resolution 1572 (2004), the international community and the United Nations had only just started to become acquainted with information on the “reprisals” carried out by French forces in Côte d’Ivoire during the first two weeks of November.

He said that his country’s legitimate defence and security forces now wanted investigations to start as soon as possible, at both national and international levels, to establish the truth about serious violations of international and humanitarian law as well as human rights.  Such impartial investigations would determine who was truly responsible for the violations and make way for solutions and remedial measures.  Prompt and resolute actions would immediately guarantee the convergence, coherence and effectiveness of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) within the framework of the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis and Accra III Agreements.  Such actions would also ensure the holding of general election in 2005, as specified in the Constitution.

“French versions of the events that occurred in Bouakéon September 6 at the security checkpoints on the road to Abidjan and in Abidjan in the following days vary each day”, he noted.  Those versions, even if fictionalized, had much to gain if they were made official, as they would clarify the many mysteries surrounding the recent events in Côte d’Ivoire.  It was, therefore, urgent to conduct a credible international investigation in order to bring to the attention of the international community the truth about what had really happened and why it had happened.

Such an intervention, he continued, would also make it possible to identify the true hate media and the instigators of the xenophobia campaign for which Côte d’Ivoire was being blamed -- the only country in the world where foreign nationals represented 26 per cent of the population.  Ivorians had always lived in peace and diversity until individuals and pressure groups, trying to misappropriate power through armed insurrection and violence, had begun to use ethnic and religious differences in a diabolical manner.  It was also imperative that the investigation be assigned to independent international organizations as they would be more impartial than Côte d’Ivoire or France, both of which had obvious and hidden interests.

He went on to say that with the return of the French Licorne Force units to their cantonments, calm had also returned to Côte d’Ivoire.  Could there, then, be more convincing evidence of the causal link between alleged “reprisals and self-defence actions”, of the infringement of the United Nations mandate, and the deliberate and provocative attacks by the Force Licorne on the sovereignty of the State and dignity of its people?  And even when France, via the voice of General Poncet, claimed to have acted in an “insurrectionary situation”, both the national and international communities quite rightfully questioned the identity of the governmental authority or administration against which the Ivorian people had risen, since it was not against their legitimate Government, led by President Laurent Gbagbo.

Independent international investigations by such organizations as the United Nations Human Rights Commission, he said, would make it possible to answer all questions raised, including by shedding light on the deployment of 100 combat tanks to the Hotel Ivoire to protect French nationals who had already been evacuated by helicopter.  Such an investigation would also show a military force, along with other forces under a United Nations mandate, being allowed to free itself from any obligation to coordinate its movements, and having the liberty to take individual action.

He demanded an independent investigation; the integration of the French Licorne Force into ONUCI; the beginning of the disarmament process; the restoration of Côte d’Ivoire’s territorial integrity; the organization of the constitutional referendum; the organization of transparent general elections in 2005; and international mobilization for the post-conflict reconstruction of a united and free Côte d’Ivoire.  It was also to be hoped that the urgency to restore peace and begin reconciliation would not lead the African Union to interfere with the mission of South African President Thabo Mbeki, or compromise its efforts and the traditional African solidarity that seemed to have been lacking at the recent ad hoc meeting on Côte d’Ivoire held in Abuja, Nigeria.

Responding to a question, he confirmed a BBC report in which President Mbeki said that groups had agreed to implement a change in the Ivorian constitution to allow more candidates to participate in the presidential election, start a process of disarmament and work towards re-establishing a functioning Government.  The Linas-Marcoussis Agreement provided for some political reforms and the process to implement those had already begun.  Hopefully, both sides, especially the rebels, would continue with their efforts so that reconciliation could become a reality.

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