Côte d'Ivoire / CNRD delegation visits UNOCI chief

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, November 22, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Bert Koenders, had a meeting on Tuesday 22 November 2011 with a delegation from the Congrès National pour la Resistance et la Démocratie (CNRD, National Congress for Resistance and Democracy), at the headquarters of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) in Sebroko, Abidjan.

At the end of the encounter, CNRD Secretary-General Dr. Toussea Oulaï Alphonse, who led the delegation, stated that the group had come to inform the UNOCI head of their concerns with regard to the upcoming legislative elections. “We came to tell him that conditions are not right for holding these legislative polls,” Dr. Toussea said. He disclosed that his delegation had asked the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to do everything to ensure that the polls lead to a definitive resolution of the crisis.

Referring to incidents that marred meetings of the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) in Bonoua and Port-Bouet, the CNRD Secretary-General declared that it would be difficult, if not incomprehensible, to organise credible and transparent elections in the absence of a modicum of security in the country.

“These different incidents prove manifestly that the security of the opposition, and more generally that of the population, is not yet guaranteed,” said Dr. Toussea.

According to the head of the CNRD delegation, the UNOCI Chief reassured them by stating that he was working for the good conduct of the elections. However, Mr. Koenders reportedly recalled that the organisation of the legislative polls was not the responsibility of the UN mission.