UNITED NATIONS, September 29, 2010 -- Long promised elections in Cote d'Ivoire are now scheduled for October 31, UN envoy Choi Young-Jin told the UN Security Council and Press on September 28.
Choi was relentlessly upbeat, that strongman Laurent Gbabgo and his two main opponents Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie are all committed to a fair election without violence, “at least in the first round.”
Inner City Press asked Choi about the arrest in New York two weeks ago of Gbagbo colonel Yao N'guessan, trying to buy for $3.8 million 4,000 handguns, 200,000 rounds of ammunition and 50,000 tear gas grenades.
That is a matter for the [Security Council] sanctions committee, Choi said. But doesn't weapons purchase by a president who has already overstayed his term draw the attention of the Council? And isn't the US, which calls it Ivory Coast, concerned? Or does the US only concerned with its new big embassy in Abidjan?
France, a critic of Gbagbo, has drafted a Council resolution authorizing the deployment of additional peacekeepers for the election. Nothing about the abortive arms purchase; nothing about Gbagbo's invitation to Cote d'Ivoire of Sudan's Omar al Bashir, indicted for war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court.
One problem at a time, apparently. But aren't they all connected?
Inner City Press asked Choi how he and the UN Mission intend to build shelters for the 3600 outdoor polling places which must, under the rules, be covered by October 31. Choi spoke of building tents, the nitty gritty logistical details for which the UN receives too little credit. Rare praise: remember it.
