Côte d’Ivoire
Expected Council Action
In January the Council is expected to discuss a midterm report of the Secretary-General on the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) expected by the end of December 2011. The Council will likely issue a press statement welcoming the successful conduct of legislative elections in December 2011 and underlining the importance of addressing the key remaining issues that would help consolidate peace and democracy in the country: completing the disarmament and reintegration process; security sector reform; addressing issues relating to national reconciliation, including the setting up of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and addressing impunity for past abuses.
The mandate of UNOCI expires on 31 July 2012.
Key Recent Developments
On 29 November 2011, former President Laurent Gbagbo was transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity as an “indirect co-perpetrator” of murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts. Gbagbo had been detained in the north of the country since April 2011 and was charged on 18 August with “economic crimes” that included his alleged looting of half a billion dollars from the state treasury. (President Alassane Ouattara’s government had insisted that the prosecution for economic crimes is separate from other charges that may be brought against Gbagbo, either by the national judiciary or the ICC.)
On 30 November 2011, Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front Party announced that it was withdrawing from the legislative elections, as well as from the country’s national reconciliation process, as a result of what it considered Gbagbo’s illegal transfer to the ICC. The UN positioned 7,000 troops in Abidjan, the capital, and in the western part of the country to help stave off election-related violence. To complement UNOCI’s security capacity during this period, the Council approved in late November 2011 a request from the Secretary-General for the transfer of three armed helicopters and two military utility helicopters from the mission in Liberia to Côte d’Ivoire from 3 to 31 December 2011.
On 8 December 2011, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNOCI, Albert Gerard Koenders, briefed the Council on preparations for the elections. On 11 December, as many as 1,160 candidates from 35 parties contested 255 legislative seats. In the event, few incidents of violence were reported during the polling, though voter turnout was predictably low—35 percent—but higher than earlier estimates. On 17 December, however, violence erupted between government forces and youths in the western region of Vavoua, 280 miles from Abidjan; six youth were gunned down. UNOCI urged the government to investigate the killings, and on 19 December, the government announced that seven ‘volunteer’ soldiers implicated in the killings had been arrested.
On 14 December 2011, Chairperson of the AU Commission Jean Ping congratulated the Ivorian people and leaders for the peaceful elections, calling them “a further testimony to their commitment to work towards the consolidation of peace in Côte d’Ivoire.” The elections, Ping said, “represent a new step in the establishment of republican institutions and the process of strengthening democracy in Côte d’Ivoire.”
The election results were announced on 16 December 2011. Outtara’s Rally of Republicans party won 127 out of 255 seats in the legislature, and the Democratic Party, which is in coalition with Ouattara’s party, won 77 seats, giving the government a formidable 80 percent control of parliament. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon hailed the elections as “peaceful and orderly”, and the Economic Community of West African States, which had sent 60 monitors to observe the elections, released a statement calling the elections free and fair.
On a visit to New York shortly after the elections, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said on 15 December that Côte d’Ivoire would ratify the Rome Statute once parliament begins deliberations. Soro, who led the Force Nouvelles rebel group that backed Outtara—and which human rights activists have accused of widespread violations—also said that he was ready to face the ICC if charged. Soro met with the Secretary-General and, separately, each of the P5 members of the Council.
The 11-member South African-styled Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which President Outtara set up in May as a key transitional justice mechanism, was launched in September with Charles Konan Banny, a former prime minister, as chair. Gbagbo’s party has said it will not cooperate with the Commission.
Concerns about the activities of former Liberian mercenaries recruited and deployed by Gbagbo along the Côte d’Ivoire-Liberia border were underlined in the latest report of the Liberia Sanctions Committee’s Panel of Experts, which was discussed by the Council on 9 December. A substantial part of the report deals with the impact of the return from Côte d’Ivoire of an estimated 4,500 mercenaries, many of whom are now engaged in illicit gold mining in Liberia close to the western part of Côte d’Ivoire. The report notes that these former fighters can be easily mobilised.
The authors of the report interviewed several former mercenary commanders, now engaged in gold mining, and noted that funds accruing from illicit gold mining are significant enough that they should be closely monitored to ensure they are not used to destabilise the two countries. In response, the Council adopted resolution 2025 on 14 December 2011, urging the Liberian government to “improve its control over the gold sector and adopt the necessary legislation in this regard, and focus its efforts on establishing effective governance of the gold production sector.”
UNOCI maintains a significant troop presence in western Côte d’Ivoire. Anxieties about the volatility of this area of the border influenced aspects of resolution 2008, which renewed the mandate of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) on 16 September 2011, emphasising the need for the two missions to “regularly coordinate their strategies and operations in areas near the Liberian-Côte d’Ivoire border…to prevent armed groups from exploiting the seam of political boundaries.”
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Human Rights-Related Developments |
Key Issues
The key issue for the Council is to ensure that Outtara’s government builds on the momentum provided by the successful legislative vote to address the remaining challenges facing the country, including completing the disarmament process, embarking on security sector reform and pursuing a policy of national reconciliation.
A related issue concerns supporting the work of the ICC in prosecuting those guilty of serious crimes relating to the post-electoral violence early this year, including associates of Gbagbo and possibly Outtara.
Options
The Council could:
- issue a press statement welcoming the outcome of the legislative elections and drawing attention to the remaining tasks, including security sector reform, reconciliation and combating impunity; or
- discuss the report and take no action.
Council Dynamics
Côte d’Ivoire is not a contentious situation in the Council. All Council members support the recent action taken by the ICC in transferring Gbagbo to The Hague to face trial. (The 1572 Côte d’Ivoire sanctions committee, in fact, had to lift the travel ban imposed on Gbagbo in order to authorise his transfer to The Hague.) Some are more eager than others to have associates of Outtara face a similar fate. France and Nigeria co-sponsored resolution 1975 of 30 March 2011, which imposed targeted sanctions and reaffirmed UNOCI’s mandate to protect civilians, and cooperation between UNOCI and UNMIL—on which the US leads—has been very good.
France is the lead country in the Council on Côte d’Ivoire.
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Security Council Resolutions |
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Latest Secretary-General’s Report |
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Letters |
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Other Relevant Facts
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Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission |
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Albert Gerard Koenders (Netherlands) |
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UNOCI Force Commander |
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Maj. Gen. Jean Marie Bourry (France) |
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Chair of the Sanctions Committee |
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HE Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (Brazil) |
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UNOCI: Size, Composition, Cost and Duration |
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Authorised Strength: 11,142 total uniformed personnel, including 9,600 troops, 192 military observers, 1,350 police |
