AHEAD OF POLLS, SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS UN FORCE IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE BY SIX MONTHS

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) by another six months, expressing its support for the long-awaited presidential elections now slated for late November.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Council voted to keep the mission – and that of the French forces supporting it – in place through 31 January next year.

It stressed that "the Ivorian political actors are bound to respect this timeline to demonstrate their political commitment towards the holding of free, fair, open and transparent elections," originally intended to be held as far back as 2005 but now scheduled for 29 November.

Welcoming the successful registration of all voters, the Council said that postponing the polls "would be inconsistent with a credible process and with the Ouagadougou Political Agreement," the 2007 blueprint for political reconciliation in the West African country which has been divided since 2002 between the Government-held south and a northern area dominated by the rebel Forces Nouvelles.

It underscored the need for all civil society groups to take part in the electoral process, as well as ensuring the protection and respect for human rights.

In particular, the Council emphasized the importance of "respect for freedom of opinion and expression, and removing obstacles and challenges to women's participation and full involvement in public life."

Last week, the top UN envoy to Côte d'Ivoire told the Council that bureaucratic complications involved in planning and running the long-delayed polls "are not to be underestimated," noting that the identification and registration of more than 6 million voters, intended to wrap up in six weeks, took more than nine months.

Y.J. Choi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of UNOCI, said that "a public electoral timeline with detailed stages shall constitute one of the most important remedies to this chronic and pervasive problem," adding that the Ivorian electoral management body seems to be struggling with the operation of the elections.

The month of September, he said, could prove decisive to the overall peace process as that is the deadline for many electoral planning and reunification-related issues – such as reintegrating members of the rebel Forces Nouvelles into the army, police and gendarmerie – to be solved ahead of the presidential polls, which were supposed to be held in 2005 and then 2008.

He warned that, "given this mixed picture of worrying signs amid solid progress," it may be necessary "to develop options [by October]… with a view to finding a way to reconcile the contradictions currently facing the Ivorian electoral and reunification process."
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PEACEKEEPING, UNDER SEVERE STRAIN, TO UNDERGO THOROUGH REVIEW – UN OFFICIAL

PEACEKEEPING, UNDER SEVERE STRAIN, TO UNDERGO THOROUGH REVIEW – UN OFFICIAL

New York, Feb 23 2009 8:00PM

United Nations peacekeeping operations, faced with unprecedented demands and extreme constraints, will undergo a thorough review in the coming year, the chief of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) said today.

"2009 will be a crucial year for peacekeeping," Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy told the General Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping, in his first appearance before that body since he replaced Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who had held the top post from 2000 until last August.

Mr. Le Roy said that operations were not only stretched in terms of the size and number of missions – totalling 18 and deploying some 112,000 blue helmets – but also in terms of the challenges posed by complex mandates and difficult logistical and security environments.

"A number of our missions face risks that are so significant that I cannot discount the potential for mission failure, with all the consequences that would entail for the United Nations," he warned.

Among the most challenging factors, he said, was the requirement to use force to protect civilians in areas beset by continuing conflict such as Darfur and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"This situation begs an analysis of mandates and the capabilities needed to implement them," the official said, offering as an example the difficult contradictions the DRC Mission (MONUC) faced when it was mandated to both protect civilians and support the national armed forces in their operations – which themselves posed a threat to civilians.

For such complex mandates, the resources needed had become increasingly hard to mobilize, he said, citing the continued lack of air transport in Darfur over a year after the deployment of the mission, and the shortage of troops in many missions.

Mr. LeRoy was confident, however, that the necessary analysis could be done and the challenges could be met, because of the dire need for peacekeeping and the ability of DPKO to perform the restructuring needed.

After all, the previous phases of restructuring DPKO, and the division of labour between it and the recently-created Department of Field Support (DFS), has already been accomplished 18 months into the process, though work remained to be done "to achieve the full benefits of the approved reform measures."

The Brahimi, Peace Operations 2010 and DPKO/DFS restructuring processes, underway for nearly a decade, had strengthened the UN's capacity to plan manage and sustain UN peacekeeping operations.

Through further analysis and evolution, "we must look to the horizon, but we must also continue to implement mandates and build on the significant strengthening of our capacity…," Mr. LeRoy said.
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SOMALIA: TOP UN ENVOY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST KILLING OF AU PEACEKEEPERS

SOMALIA: TOP UN ENVOY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST KILLING OF AU PEACEKEEPERS
New York, Feb 23 2009 2:00PM
The top United Nations envoy to Somalia today said he was shocked to hear about an attack against African Union peacekeepers in the capital that claimed the lives of 11 Burundian troops.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, characterized yesterday's incident as "unpatriotic" and expressed shock to hear of the murder of the peacekeepers who were trying to help the Horn of Africa nation.

The killings of the soldiers with the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, occurred the day after the Parliament approved the new Cabinet put together by Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke.

"I am sure that this attack was carried out to detract attention from positive developments concerning Somalia," Mr. Ould-Abdallah said, adding that the new Government seeks to help bring normality back to the people.

Somalia is entering a "time of hope," with President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed returning to Mogadishu today, he noted. "For Somalis, those who are behind these killings are well-known and are on the losing side."

There have been several encouraging developments over the past month for Somalia, which has not had a functioning central government since 1991, including the election of the new President in what the UN has hailed as "a fair and open manner" and the creation of an enlarged Parliament.
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DARFUR: AFRICAN UNION-UN BLUE HELMETS BEEF UP PATROLS PROTECTING DISPLACED

DARFUR: AFRICAN UNION-UN BLUE HELMETS BEEF UP PATROLS PROTECTING DISPLACED
New York, Feb 22 2009 6:00PM
The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission to Darfur (UNAMID) reported today that its police unit will conduct the first night patrols at a new community policing centre (CPC) constructed between two large camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

The move, which starts tonight, means that UNAMID blue helmets will patrol the area in a continuous 24-hour operation as part of its efforts to step up the protection of the tens of thousands of residents taking shelter at the Abu Shouk and El Salaam camps for IDPs on the western flank of the Sudan.

A delegation of IDPs from El Salaam camp has also thanked UNAMID Police for its help in securing the recent release of several IDPs from detention by Sudanese national intelligence officers.

Construction will start within the next two weeks on another interim CPC near Zamzam
, a separate IDP camp close to El Fasher, according to UNAMID.
The hybrid force was set up by the Security Council to protect civilians in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.

One year on from transferring the task of suppressing the violence to UNAMID from the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), some 12,374 blue helmets are now in place across Darfur, just over 60 per cent of the 19,555 military personnel authorized by the Security Council.

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For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news