Cote d’Ivoire: Accountability Yes, Retaliation No

By Ivan Simonovic, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights

Traveling around Abidjan and the west of Côte d’Ivoire last week, as the push to dislodge former President Laurent Gbagbo reached its climax, it was difficult to escape the stench of death.

In the Carrefour neighborhood of Duékoué, I peered down a deep well at the abandoned headquarters of one of the warring militias. No bodies were visible but the smell was unmistakable. No one knows how many bodies lie inside. The grisly work of recovering and identifying the dead lies ahead.

President-elect bans Ivory Coast cocoa exports

Traders are bracing for a jump in the price of cocoa on Monday, after the internationally recognised president-elect of Ivory Coast imposed a one month export ban in an attempt to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who the international community said lost elections though he remains president.

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: UN Will Robustly Fulfil Mandate To Protect Civilians

Source: UN Report

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire will “robustly” fulfil its mandate, breaking through roadblocks if needed, to protect civilians and the “legitimate Government” after the outgoing president’s refusal to step down in the face of his rival’s internationally recognised electoral victory, a top UN official warned today.

Ivory Coast: UN Steps Up Diplomacy In Support Of Opposition Presidential Victor

The United Nations today intensified its diplomatic moves over Côte d’Ivoire, where outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo insists he won last month’s elections despite UN certification of his rival Alassane Ouattara as the clear victor.

At UN Headquarters in New York the Security Council discussed the issue while in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Y. J. Choi briefed an extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the elections, which were a key step in efforts to reunite a country split in two by civil war in 2002.