Leadership (Abuja)
Abiodun Oluwarotimi
12 November 2009
New York — Côte d'Ivoire's independent electoral commission has handed over a provisional voters' list to the top United Nations envoy in the country, a step forward towards holding the much-delayed presidential poll in the West African country, split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-ruled south and a rebel-controlled north.
But United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, Young-Jin Choi warned that important steps remained to be taken and while the elections were now in reach, serious work was needed to overcome the final challenges.
The elections, originally scheduled for as far back as 2005, are now planned for 29 November after repeated postponements, but UN officials have voiced concern at possible further setbacks.
Mr. Choi, who heads the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), called for accelerating the remaining technical steps, such as the printing and distribution of national identity and voter cards.
The Security Council established UNOCI in 2004 to help ensure a ceasefire and pave the way for permanent peace and democratic elections following the civil war. Reauthorized repeatedly since then, most recently until 31 January 2010, it currently comprises nearly 8,400 uniformed personnel, as well as 407 international civilian personnel.
It would be recalled that the United Nations Security Council recently expressed its concern at the delay in publication of the provisional voters list for the first round of free, fair and transparent presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire to be held on 29 November.
In a statement read by the then Council's President Susan Rice of the United States, the Council reiterated its determination to bring its full support to a credible electoral process, stressing that to that end it had extended the mandate and had maintained the troop level of the United Nations Operations in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI).
Susan Rice continued that the Council reiterated that all Ivorian political actors were bound to respect the electoral timeline and urged all Ivorian actors to comply fully with their commitments in order for the voters list to be published.
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This is a message to Mr. Choi and Susan Rice.... Many of us from that part of Africa know exactly what you guys are facing in that country. This is a country in which many government officials do not respect the rules that they themselves are to protect. The delay of the voters list and other issues now facing the UN was not hidden. I want to believe that the delay in the voters listing was manipulated by the people in charge so that they will be able to profit from the delay.
Now, what kind of profitting that the people in charge will get? 1. They will expect a rush to the pool so that they can pump in people that were not registered to vote. 2. They will beg for additional time for extention of the election so that they will continue exploiting the population. 3. They will benefit if some of those voters cards can not be delivered to other areas in the country because of bad road conditions and timing. 4. They will benefit from the confusion to avoid blame.
Like I said , this is a difficult task and I hope you guys willwork very hard to free the population in that country from their suffering. The election has to take place and you need to use all the resources necessay to bring the parties to the voting boxes. Be prepared to cross any obstacles.