Côte d’Ivoire / Y. J. Choi to attend African Union Summit in Addis Ababa
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, January 27, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — UNOCI weekly press conference
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, left today for Addis Ababa to attend an African Union summit which is due to discuss Côte d’Ivoire, the deputy spokesman of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), Kenneth Blackman, announced during the Mission’s weekly press conference on Thursday.
Mr. Blackman also said that as part of UNOCI’s regular contact with the different actors who would like to contribute to a peaceful resolution to the post-electoral crisis, Mr. Choi met with a delegation of Ivorian kings and traditional chiefs at the beginning of the week.
Also in this regard, the deputy spokesman said that the Deputy Special Representative, Ndolamb Ngokwey, met with a delegation of representatives of women’s association working for peace, who came to ask for UNOCI’s support for sensitization activities they intend to organize to reinforce social cohesion.
The deputy spokesman also spoke about a sensitisation session to promote a peaceful post-electoral environment in Bondoukou, organised by UNOCI in collaboration with the Union générale des femmes de Bondoukou. “Similar activities have been programmed with the youths of political parties in the town as well as in other parts of the country, with the collaboration of all sections of civil society,” said Mr. Blackman.
In this regard, he welcomed the efforts of civil society organizations and community groups that are working for the return of peace to Côte d’Ivoire by taking initiatives to preserve social cohesion in their respective regions. He also reiterated UNOCI’s support for these kinds of initiatives.
Turning to the human rights situation in Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Blackman said that UNOCI, through its Human Rights Division, had received reports of 11 new cases of people who had been killed, bringing the number of deaths reported since the incidents on 16 December 2010 to 271. The Division also recorded four cases of disappearances and three rapes.
Asked about the 2000 additional peacekeepers who are due to deployed in Côte d’Ivoire, the deputy spokesman said they had not yet arrived in the country. “Their deployment is being prepared,» he said.
SOURCE
Mission of UN in Côte d’Ivoire
