UN demands 'quick' peace
2003-12-05 10:57
New York - The United Nations Security Council welcomed commitments by Ivory Coast's president to implement a January peace agreement "without further ado" and called for quick action.
The council on Thursday approved a statement strongly underlining the need for all parties to observe a ceasefire before President Laurent Gbagbo announced that he would visit the rebels' stronghold in a few days to assure them fighting was over.
The government and rebels said in a joint statement issued after a day of talks on Thursday that they had agreed to start a crucial and long-awaited disarmament program on December 15. It said rebel and government units would begin pulling back on Friday from a ceasefire line patrolled by 4 000 French and 1 200 West African peacekeepers.
The Security Council statement expressed grave concern at attempts by "armed elements" on November 29 and 30 to cross the ceasefire line holding government forces back from rebels who control half the country.
Many had feared that these and other violent protests, fuelled by pro-government militias who want Gbagbo to take back the rebel-held north, could lead to renewed war in what was once West Africa's most prosperous and stable nation.
The council reiterated that "it is absolutely essential" for the parties to expedite implementation of a French-brokered peace agreement approved in January that created a blueprint to lead Ivory Coast out of war and toward elections, scheduled for 2005.
It called on all parties "to refrain from any action that might jeopardise observance of the cease-fire and implementation" of the peace agreement.
The council also reaffirmed "the urgency of carrying out operations to regroup the opposing forces so that disarmament and demobilisation can begin, and of ensuring that these operations are accompanied by measures of reintegration into the regular army or into civilian life."
Fighting broke out in September 2002 with a failed rebel attempt to oust Gbagbo. Rebels still hold the northern half of the country, despite the establishment of the power-sharing government and the war's official end.
- AP