Côte d’Ivoire / UNOCI chief and minister of defence discuss challenges facing redeployment of 8000 police and gendarmes
ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, August 28, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The challenges facing the deployment of 8000 police and gendarmes throughout the country were on Wednesday at the centre of discussions of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Côte d’Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, and the Ivorian Minister of Defence, Michel Amani Nguessan.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Defence explained that he had come to the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) to discuss the obstacles that had been encountered in this domain, three months after his Ministry had sought the Mission’s support.
Reiterating his thanks for the support already given by UNOCI, the Minister said that there was a need to quickly rehabilitate the gendarmerie and police stations in order to effectively accommodate the 8000 police and gendarmes. However, he explained that Mr. Choi had listened attentively to the problems that they faced and the necessary support would therefore be given to ensure that things move quickly. “The Special Representative reassured us that UNOCI was going to support us with up to 500 million FCFA. So, today, it is a question of quickly putting out tenders and teams of workers in the field,” said Mr. Amani.
However, taking into account certain priorities, the Minister expressed the hope that the police and gendarmerie stations would be quickly rehabilitated in towns with courts so that they would be able to work effectively. The second priority, according to him, was security provisions for 68 coordination centres set up by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the interior of the country to process data from the identification and voter registration operation. “The Special Representative told us that he would take all the necessary measures to accompany us in this effort,” the Minister of Defense explained.
With regard to disarmament, which must be completed two months before the presidential election – that is 29 September 2009 at the latest – Mr. Amani explained that this requirement implied that the 8000 police and gendarmes should have been redeployed by this date. However, he said “in view of the amount of work that has to be done, I’m wondering if it is technically, we can complete it before 29 September”. With regard to the harmonization of ranks, he said that a joint committee (FAFN – FDSCI) was already working on this and should deliver its recommendations as early as 27 August 2009.
SOURCE
Mission of UN in Côte d’Ivoire
