UN I Coast mission needs help
2004-12-15 14:00
Abidjan - The UN operation in Ivory Coast Onuci on Wednesday appealed for more troops and equipment to help it carry out its mission to reconcile the divided west African state ahead of elections due next October.
"To really implement our actual mandate, we need additional troops and equipment," said Alan Doss, the deputy UN special envoy of the 6 240-strong operation on the ground since April.
"We want to enforce the mediation efforts opened by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is counting on our support particularly in the area of security."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday reported to the 15-member Security Council that Onuci was "strained to the limit" during riots in early November, and recommended an increase of both troops and air support for the operation.
Mbeki early last month was mandated by the African Union to broker peace in Ivory Coast, after the war that broke out there in September 2002 escalated sharply with an attack by the Ivorian air force on cities held by rebels in the north.
Annan requested that the Council authorise an additional infantry battalion of 850 troops, along with eight helicopters, and hundreds of additional police and support personnel, bringing the deployment in Ivory Coast to some 7 100 staff.
With additional troops, Doss said on Wednesday, the UN could help protect Ivorian political figures including the ministers representing the rebels whose attempt to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002 sparked a civil war that still divides the country between rebel north and government south.
- SAPA