AFRICA/CÔTE D' IVOIRE - “Thank goodness UN sanctions on a few Ivorian political leaders have not met with protests which means we can continue our work to assist refugees and displaced persons” says JRS director in Côte d'Ivoire

Tuesday, 21 February 2006

Abidjan (Fides Service)- " Thank goodness UN sanctions on some of our political leaders have not met with protests which means we can continue our work to assist refugees and displaced persons who were cut off during protests in mid January. Let’s hope the peace process will at last offer us some opportunities" said Robert Boedeker, director of the Jesuit Refugees Service for Côte d'Ivoire after the UN Security Council decided to impose sanctions on a few of the country’s political leaders.
On 7 February 2006 the UN Security Council imposed a 12 month travel ban on 3 Ivorian political leaders accused of working against the peace process and froze their assets. The Security Council’s sanctions committee asked UN member states to “freeze any assets” and “prevent entry or transit” of Charles Ble Goude, Eugene Djue and Martin Kouakou Fofie, considered “threats to the process of peace and reconciliation in Côte d'Ivoire”.
Last month Charles Ble Goude and Eugene Djue, leaders of the Young Patriots movement faithful to the Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, urged movement supporters to call for the withdrawal of UN and French peacekeepers. The UN Sanctions Committee accused Martin Kouakou Fofie, a commander of the New Forces rebels group which controls the north and west of the country, of being responsible for serious violation of human rights in the northern city of Korhogo.
Sanctions were applied after hundreds of UN peacekeepers were forced to withdraw when rioters set fire to UN offices and vehicles and sacked UN humanitarian stores. About 400 civilian UN staff were temporarily evacuated and UN secretary general Kofi Annan announced that Gbagbo and his army chief would be held responsible for any further disorder. In its statement the UN Sanctions Committee said the list of sanctions would be “regularly updated”.
Côte d'Ivoire was split in two in September 2002 by an unsuccessful coup to oust Gbagbo. The UN has 7,000 peacekeepers in the country flanked by 4,000 French peacekeepers.
Besides hundreds of thousands of its own internally displaced persons Côte d'Ivoire hosts also about 42,000 Liberian refugees.(L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 21/2/2006 righe 35 parole 424)


Share: