Côte d’Ivoire
Expected Council Action
In April the Council is expected to consider the final report of the panel of experts (PoE) that supports the Côte d’Ivoire Sanctions Committee. Resolution 1980 of 28 April 2011 renewed for a year an arms embargo, a ban on the diamond trade that was helping fuel the conflict and sanctions on travel by selected individuals deemed to be threats to “peace and national reconciliation” in the country. The Council is expected to renew the sanctions regime and the mandate of the PoE, though at press time it was unclear whether the sanctions regime will be modified and how.
The mandate of UNOCI expires on 31 July 2012.
Key Recent Developments
Albert Gerard Koenders, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire and head of UNOCI, briefed the Council on 26 January on the December 2011 legislative elections. As many as 1,160 candidates from 35 parties contested 255 legislative seats. The UN deployed 7,000 troops across the country; to complement this, three armed helicopters and two military utility helicopters from the mission in Liberia were transferred to Côte d’Ivoire from 3 to 31 December. Voter turnout was predictably low at 35 percent, but the elections were largely peaceful.
Incidents of violence, however, were reported after the polls. Government forces killed ten people in December 2011 in the western town of Vavoua and the southern town of Sikensi.
In early February, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) sent an assessment mission to Côte d’Ivoire to look at various contentious issues, including security, relating to overall stability in the country. The report is expected to be circulated to Council members by the end of March.
On 12 March, former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was elected head of the National Assembly. Soro had said on 15 December that Côte d’Ivoire would ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) once the National Assembly began deliberations. As the former leader of the Forces Nouvelles rebel group, which human rights activists have accused of widespread violations, Soro’s attitude towards the ICC will be important.
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Human Rights-Related Developments |
The last Côte d’Ivoire PoE report discussed by the Council was submitted on 17 October 2011. That report highlighted a number of crucial gaps. The PoE did not have an arms expert, though illicit arms and weapons proliferation were a core concern. It reported that after the serious nation-wide violence following presidential elections in November 2010, “thousands of weapons still remain unaccounted for” and these weapons “pose a threat to the stabilisation of the country.” The report cited the views of government interlocutors that the threat is particularly palpable in the west of the country, bordering Liberia. (The latest Liberia PoE report, which was discussed by the Council on 9 December 2011, details the impact of the return of an estimated 4,500 Liberian mercenaries who had been hired and deployed by former president Laurent Gbagbo during the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire. The Liberia PoE claimed to have interviewed a large number of mercenary commanders in Liberia but reported finding few combat weapons in the hands of these ex-mercenaries.)
The Côte d’Ivoire PoE report gave considerable space to diamond mining, which was a source of funding for some of the armed groups in the country. It noted that the situation in the diamond fields has “not changed dramatically following the post-electoral crisis”, and that diamond mining in northern Côte d’Ivoire “continues unabated and there is a lack of oversight and control of diamond operations.” But it stated that the PoE was “unable to establish a direct link between the possible diversion of revenues from diamond-mining activities and the purchase of weapons by either party involved in the conflict.” Côte d’Ivoire is not a participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), though the Ministry of Mines and Energy informed the PoE that Côte d’Ivoire “has met several of the minimum standards for compliance.” The PoE report, however, noted that the only evidence the Ministry provided for this claim was a copy of Decree No. 2003-143, which states the government’s commitment to the KPCS.
Of immediate interest in view of the ICC’s ongoing investigations was the report’s dealing with a number of individuals on the travel ban list. One such individual is Charles Blé Goudé, a notorious former ally of Gbagbo who was reported to have committed mass atrocities. The report noted that Goudé “is outside the country, which would constitute a clear violation of the travel ban.” Goudé, who is believed to be in a neighbouring country, “still exercises leadership over the Congrès panafricain des jeunes et patriotes (COJEP) and intends to reactivate his political network in Côte d’Ivoire,” the report stated. (On 1 July 2011, the Côte d’Ivoire government issued an international arrest warrant calling for the apprehension of Goudé for serious violations of human rights.)
Another individual discussed is Martin Kouakou Fofié, a commander in Soro’s Forces Nouvelles who was reported to have been involved in abuses. The PoE report noted that on 3 August 2011, “Fofié was appointed by the current government as the military commander of Zone 10 of the country and is based in Korhogo.”
The report expressed concern about “the lack of oversight by state authorities of the transport of cargo to and from neighbouring countries.” It noted that “based on an assessment of the extensive movement of transit cargo between Burkina Faso and Mali prior to the post-electoral crisis…a significant amount of revenue must have been generated from such trade.” Therefore, the report “cannot dismiss the possibility that such revenues were used for the purchase of arms and related materiel in breach of the embargo.”
The latest PoE report on Côte d’Ivoire was submitted to the 1572 Sanctions Committee members in March. It is expected to be discussed by the Committee and then by the Council in consultations in the first half of April, and to be published after that.
Key Issues
The key issue for the Council is the suitability of the sanctions regime as currently designed in view of the current political situation and steps taken by the government of President Alassane Ouattara to consolidate state authority and to establish the rule of law throughout the country.
A related issue is what measures would be most suitable to boost addressing some key challenges faced by the government, such as the extension of state authority to all or most parts of the country.
A further issue is the successful implementation of the transitional justice mechanisms that are being set in motion, including the, indictment of former President Gbagbo by the ICC, further ICC investigations, the prosecution for economic crimes and the work of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Options
Removing most of the measures contained in the current sanctions regime, with the exception of the travel ban (to assist the ICC investigations) and the diamond sanctions (until Côte d’Ivoire is fully compliant with the requirements of the KPCS and becomes a participant) is an option.
Maintaining the sanctions regime through a technical rollover of resolution 1980 and renewing the mandate of the PoE (possibly for shorter period than a full year) is another option.
Council Dynamics
Within the Council, it seems there is consensus among members for the need to assist Côte d’Ivoire through its current phase of peace consolidation, reconstruction and the reconciliation process. Council members, in particular France—co-sponsor with Nigeria of resolution 1975 of 30 March 2011, which imposed targeted sanctions against five individuals and reaffirmed UNOCI’s mandate to protect civilians—continue to pay significant attention to the issue.
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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Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala) |
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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 |
