UN Report: Ivorian Parties Continue to Rearm
New York, Oct 27 2009 1:10PM
Both sides in Côte d’Ivoire, which has been divided for more than seven years between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north, are violating the arms embargo imposed on the country, according to a new United Nations report.
“Despite the arms embargo, northern and
southern Ivorian parties are rearming or re-equipping with
related materiel,” the Group of Experts monitoring
sanctions on the country said in its latest report to the
Security Council.
The Group, set up in 2005, noted
that the northern part of the country bears more resemblance
to a warlord economy than to a functioning government
administration.
Largely independent military ‘zone
commanders’ of the Force Nouvelles control and exploit
natural resources, providing both motive and means to
sustain territorial control in northern Côte d’Ivoire, it
stated.
The Government also faces potentially violent
political opposition in the south of the country, which has
prompted it to begin re-equipping some of its security
forces with riot-control equipment and could prompt efforts
to import arms and related materiel in the near future.
The Group identified seven separate cases in which
the Government and the Forces Nouvelles acquired arms and
related materiel in breach of the sanctions regime. It is
particularly concerned by the systematic transfer of weapons
and ammunition from neighbouring Burkina Faso to the Forces
Nouvelles-controlled north of the country, which may be
linked to cocoa smuggling.
Military aircraft belonging
to the Government of Côte d’Ivoire remain largely
inoperable, but the Group remains vigilant to the potential
for foreign-assisted rehabilitation or acquisition of air
assets.
On diamonds, the Group noted that the absence
of effective border controls allows the rough diamond trade
in Côte d’Ivoire to extend, almost seamlessly, into
Burkina Faso and Mali. There is also concern that Ivorian
diamonds may be illegally exported through Guinea and
Liberia.
The Government of Côte d’Ivoire has not
introduced the necessary regulatory measures to prevent
the import or export of items prohibited by the sanctions
regime, the Group stated.
In addition, the experts
voice concern two of the three individuals subject to assets
freezes and travel bans continue to access and accrue
revenues despite the sanctions imposed on them.
The
country is currently preparing for the holding of the
long-awaited and much-delayed presidential elections, one of
many reunification tasks set out in the 2007 blueprint for
political reconciliation known as the Ouagadougou Agreement.
Over 6.5 million Ivorians have been identified and
registered ahead of the polls, originally scheduled for as
far back as 2005 and now planned for 29 November.
The
UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (<"http://www.un.org/depts/dpko/missions/unoci/">),
which is providing logistical support for the holding of the
elections, has been calling on the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) to publish the provisional electoral
list.
The mission said last week that despite the
delay in publishing the list, progress has been made in
other areas. Twenty candidatures for the presidential
election had been received by the IEC, heavy and sensitive
electoral equipment had been positioned in Abidjan and
Yamoussoukro, and a joint international observation group
had been
established.
ENDS