Security Council

5712^th Meeting (PM)

SECURITY COUNCIL, IN PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT, ISSUES STRONG CONDEMNATION

OF ATTACK AGAINST CÔTE D’IVOIRE PRIME MINISTER’S PLANE

Perpetrators of Deadly Attack Must be Brought to Justice, Members Stress

The Security Council strongly condemned today’s attack against a plane carrying Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Côte d’Ivoire as it was landing in the central town of Bouaké.  Several lives were lost in the “criminal attack”.

According to a statement read out by Council President Johan Verbeke of Belgium, the members of the 15-nation body stressed that the perpetrators must be brought to justice, and condemned any attempts to destabilize the Ivorian peace process by force.

The Council recalled its support for the March 2007 Ouagadougou Agreement signed by President Laurent Gbagbo and Mr. Soro, which stresses the critical importance of all parties continuing to work within that framework as the way to a settlement of the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire.

Beginning at 1:11 p.m., the meeting ended at 1:13 p.m.

Presidential Statement

The full text of presidential statement S/PRST/2007/25 reads as follows:

“The Security Council strongly condemns the attack committed on 29 June 2007 in Bouaké against the Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Guillaume Soro, that resulted in several deaths, and any attempt to destabilize the peace process by force.  It stresses that the perpetrators of this criminal act must be brought to justice.

“The Security Council recalls its support for the Agreement signed by President Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro in Ouagadougou on 4 March 2007 under the facilitation of the Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso.  It stresses that it is critical that all parties continue to work within the framework of the Ouagadougou political Agreement, which is the way to settle the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire.”

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For information media • not an official record