SA: I Coast stabilising

2005-09-01 10:08

New York - South Africa's defence minister told the United Nations security council on Wednesday that Ivory Coast is slowly stabilising and should be able to hold elections by the end of October despite unrest in the country.

Mosiuoa Lekota told the council that South Africa's mediation efforts in Ivory Coast have made progress and the country's president, Laurent Gbagbo, has "adopted a posture that seeks to focus on finding solutions to the problems besetting his country".

He said Ivory Coast had started "drifting toward normalcy and stability" and "conditions are appropriate right now" for elections.

Lekota said progress had been made in areas including overall security, passage of laws necessary for the vote, and disarming of militias. But the process of demobilising fighters has not begun and basic services still have not been brought to rural areas, Lekota said.

UN paints a bleak picture

That was a far more upbeat assessment than one given by Pierre Schori, the UN special representative for Ivory Coast. He said there is a feeling of deep insecurity across Ivory Coast, people are harassed and there is little rule of law in some places.

"Things are not all rosy," Schori said after he briefed the security council. Referring to the country's capital, he said: "I haven't been in one city where I have seen so many Kalashnikovs as in Abidjan."

Lekota made no mention of confusion out of the South African capital, Pretoria, on whether his country would continue its mediation efforts.

The foreign ministry said on Wednesday that South Africa would continue searching for a solution to the Ivory Coast conflict, a day after a top official said it had largely finished its work.

South African Press Association had quoted SA's deputy foreign Minister Aziz Pahad as saying on Tuesday that "the mediator's role by and large has now concluded" and it was up to the UN to implement recommended changes.

Pahad had accused Ivory Coast's rebels and political opposition of reneging on agreements after they declared the October 30 vote impossible.

Mediation to continue

The council later issued a press statement saying that South Africa will continue its mediation. It said the council is ready to "take all steps they consider necessary", including the possibility of sanctions.

Lekota refused to say if South Africa supported sanctions, saying that would be the decision of the UN and the African Union (AU).

Ivory Coast has been split in two since a failed 2002 coup attempt sparked months of civil war and left the northern half of the country in rebel hands. A buffer zone separating the warring factions is patrolled by 6 000 UN troops and 4 000 French peacekeepers.

Both sides have signed a series of peace agreements and committed to fresh elections, bringing an end to major fighting. But neither side has disarmed as required by the latest deal brokered in April.

- AP