UN head in Ivory Coast peace bid
UN head Kofi Annan is to meet Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo to urge that October's elections go ahead and boost the flagging peace process.
The president has urged his supporters, who demonstrated violently against the United Nations in January, to welcome the UN secretary general.
The UN deployed peacekeepers there after rebels seized the north in 2002.
The BBC's James Copnall says elections are looking increasingly unlikely as disarmament has yet to take place.
It is Mr Annan's first visit to the country since the civil war began four years ago.
Some 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the rebels in the north and the government-held south.
Heavy weights
Our correspondent says the UN is generally not popular in the Ivory Coast.
President Gbagbo's supporters feel it is up to the UN to disarm the northern New Forces rebels and they also accuse the organisation of interfering in internal politics.
Mr Annan will preside over a meeting between President Gbagbo, Ivorian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, opposition politicians and rebel leaders.
Other heavy weights due to attend include the current head of the African Union, Congolese leader Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and South African President Thabo Mbeki.
President Gbagbo has stressed that this meeting is not in addition to the long list of summits aimed at resolving the Ivorian crisis.
Instead the president says it is to evaluate progress, which, our reporter says, has been slight.
Discussions may well include what will happen when President Gbagbo's mandate runs out in October.
The country is still split in two, with rebels controlling the north of the country.
On Tuesday rebel military chiefs were meant to meet President Gbagbo, but the talks were cancelled after a row about status and security.
Our correspondent says that political gamesmanship, timed to coincide with Mr Annan's visit, is just a small sign of how divided Ivory Coast still is.
The president has urged his supporters, who demonstrated violently against the United Nations in January, to welcome the UN secretary general.
The UN deployed peacekeepers there after rebels seized the north in 2002.
The BBC's James Copnall says elections are looking increasingly unlikely as disarmament has yet to take place.
It is Mr Annan's first visit to the country since the civil war began four years ago.
Some 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the rebels in the north and the government-held south.
Heavy weights
Our correspondent says the UN is generally not popular in the Ivory Coast.
President Gbagbo's supporters feel it is up to the UN to disarm the northern New Forces rebels and they also accuse the organisation of interfering in internal politics.
Mr Annan will preside over a meeting between President Gbagbo, Ivorian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, opposition politicians and rebel leaders.
Other heavy weights due to attend include the current head of the African Union, Congolese leader Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and South African President Thabo Mbeki.
President Gbagbo has stressed that this meeting is not in addition to the long list of summits aimed at resolving the Ivorian crisis.
Instead the president says it is to evaluate progress, which, our reporter says, has been slight.
Discussions may well include what will happen when President Gbagbo's mandate runs out in October.
The country is still split in two, with rebels controlling the north of the country.
On Tuesday rebel military chiefs were meant to meet President Gbagbo, but the talks were cancelled after a row about status and security.
Our correspondent says that political gamesmanship, timed to coincide with Mr Annan's visit, is just a small sign of how divided Ivory Coast still is.
posted by TIUranta at 8:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home