Ivorian Parties Must Comply With Peace Timetable

Security Council Demands Ivorian Parties Comply With New Peace Timetable

New York, Jul 6 2005 1:00PM

With the Government of Cote d’Ivoire and opposition leaders having reached an agreement on a timeline for implementing a stalled peace plan, the United Nations Security Council today demanded that all Ivorian parties and signatories “scrupulously comply” with all aspects of the new deal.

In a statement read out in a formal meeting by its President for the month, Adamantios Vassilakis (Greece), the Council noted of the Declaration on the implementation of the Pretoria Agreement on the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire, signed on 29 June in Pretoria under the auspices of the African Union mediator, President Thabo Mbeki.

The new agreement is the latest effort between the Ivorian parties to revive a peace process deadlocked since April when talks faltered on setting a timetable for elections and disarmament. The elections were meant to herald the end of a conflict that exploded when rebels tried to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in 2002 and seized the north of the world's top cocoa grower. The country has been divided ever since.

Today, the Council reiterated its full support to the AU Mediation and welcomed its efforts, so that the forthcoming elections in Côte d’Ivoire were credible and held as planned, Ambassador Vassilakis said.

The Council affirmed its readiness, in close consultation with the African Union Mediation, to implement individual sanctions provided for in paragraphs 9 and 11 of resolution 1572 (2004) – which gave Ivorian parties one month to get the peace process back on track or face a travel ban and a freeze on their assets – against those who did not comply with those commitments or constituted an obstacle to their full implementation.

ENDS

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