EU to help Ivory Coast fund disarmament
January 11 2007 at 04:11PM
The European Union announced on Thursday that it will give Ivory Coast €103 million (about R979.54 million) to organise elections and help fund a disarmament process in the politically and militarily divided nation.
Visiting EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel signed the financial protocol here with Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and said it was support for "efforts by the international community and Ivorians" to end a four-year crisis.
"Political backing and declarations are not always enough. I wanted to lay down something concrete," Michel added, specifying that the funding package was also a sign of "direct support for the actions" of Banny, a transitional leader who is sometimes at odds with President Laurent Gbagbo.
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The west African country, which is the world's leading cocoa producer, has been split in two between Gbagbo's army in the south and New Forces rebels who control the north since a brief civil war in the wake of a foiled coup bid in September 2002.
Banny, a former international banker renowned for his firm and level-headed leadership, was picked in December 2005 by the UN Security Council to head the government, end a stalemate in the peace process launched early in 2003, see rival sides disarmed and bring about elections.
"The impression that nothing has moved forward is incorrect," Banny told journalists after talks with Michel's delegation. "The effort by the international community and the EU will not be in vain."
Gbagbo himself, seen by his foes as an obstacle to political progress every time he used the Ivorian constitution as a reason to avoid implementing UN and other recommendations, late 2006 made proposals to end the crisis.
Michel's visit follows agreement among the Ivorian parties concerned on two main issues, the disarming of forces either side of ceasefire lines monitored by UN and French peacekeepers, and the thorny business of identifying and registering citizens for a vote.
The question of who holds Ivorian nationality and who does not in a country that saw a massive influx of regional immigrant labour for its cocoa and cotton plantations when it was the economic powerhouse of west Africa was a root cause of the conflict.
Michel said that some of the EU financial package was intended to help in the rebuilding of community structures and to strengthen civic organisations by funding small-scale economic projects. - Sapa-AFP
