PRESS BRIEFING BY COTE D’IVOIRE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR

PRESS BRIEFING BY COTE D’IVOIRE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR

Although ethnic tensions still gripped pockets of Côte d’Ivoire and troubling humanitarian concerns lingered, nearly two years after a military rebellion wrecked the economy and threw the country into crisis the fragile peace process was finally gathering some momentum, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the country said today.

“We are at a turning point -- with the peace process now headed in the rights direction”, said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Côte d’Ivoire this afternoon during a Headquarters press briefing.  And although there was still some political jockeying between ex-rebels and administration officials, the coalition government was basically back on its feet taking up its duties, and the security situation was evolving positively, he said.

Fierce fighting between the Government of Côte d'Ivoire and rebel forces, which erupted in September 2002, largely ended with a peace agreement, signed in Linas-Marcoussis, France, in January last year.  The deal calls on the government, rebels and political opposition to share power in a transitional government until elections next year.  French forces [known as Licorne] and West African peacekeeping troops have been keeping the former warring parties apart, aided by a small United Nations mission (MINUCI).  Although the war was declared over last July, the country remains split between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

Mr. Dieye told correspondents that the United Nations disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme for the divided country was now well-positioned and was set to get under way shortly.  The military factions had put heavy weaponry in cantonments, with the Ivorian Prime Minister headed to Bouake to inspect the initial sites.  Still, he stressed that heavy tensions surrounding the peace process and recent ethnic flare ups must be defused so that fragile gains would not be reversed.  

On the economic front, he said the budget situation was still very tight, which was negatively impacting overall social recovery and development, particularly youth employment programmes.  As for the humanitarian situation, he hailed the international community for responding so quickly and generously last year when the crisis was at its peak.  But the needs were still huge, as people were without basic public and administrative services in some of the northern and western areas.

Clean water and sanitation were scarce and 80 per cent of the local medical centres had been affected.  He added that some 700,000 children were unable to attend school, as facilities had been destroyed or looted.  There had also been reports of alarming increases in HIV/AIDS infection rates.  “So you see that we are not quite yet there”, he said, going on to highlight the challenges facing Côte d’Ivoire’s over 500,000 internally displaced persons with insufficient support or protection from local authorities.

“My message to you is that in order to nurture the peace process and avoid any reversals, we must invest in humanitarian action”, Mr. Dieye said, recalling that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had this year launched a consolidated United Nations appeal for $69 million, to meet urgent humanitarian needs and support the return home of internally displaced persons.  He urged the international community to see funding that appeal as an investment in the nascent peace process.  Resources were also needed to see the disarmament process through to a successful conclusion.  Finally, he called for support for upcoming elections, currently set for October 2005.

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