Unifeed
UN / COTE D’IVOIRE
STORY: UN / COTE D’IVOIRE
TRT: 2:51
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters
2. Wide shot, conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The state broadcasting corporation is being used to incite violence against UNOCI and disseminate false information against our mission. We have been accused of violating Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereignty and providing support to the Forces Nouvelles, including by distributing arms.”
4. Cutaway, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I am concerned that this disruption of life-support supplies for the Mission and the Golf Hotel will put our peacekeepers in a critical situation in the coming few days. I therefore strongly appeal to Member States who are in a position to do so to prepare to support the Mission to assist with the continued flow of supplies.”
6. Cutaway, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Let me report that I have received two communications from President-elect Ouattara with respect to the credentials of the Cote d'Ivoire delegation. One of these stated the credentials of the former Permanent Representative were being withdrawn. The other stated that a new Permanent Representative had been appointed.”
8. Cutaway, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) U. Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations:
“We condemn in unequivocal terms the recent acts of incitement, intimidation, violence and abuse of human rights.”
10. Wide shot, end of conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Alain Leroy, Under-Secretary-General, Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
“What we see so far is the strategy by the camp of Mr. Gbagbo both to strangle and provoke ONUCI mission. To strangle in many ways. The radio and television is sending, instigating violence against ONUCI personal. ONUCI personal are bring pushed out of their homes, all our supplies are being threatened to stop their supply to ONUCI for that’s a blockade for our people.”
12. Cutaway, reporters
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Alain Leroy, Under-Secretary-General, Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
“We have been able to confirm the presence of mercenaries. People not speaking the local language and probably from Liberia, maybe also some from Angola. They are mercenaries clearly used to attack, provoke the civilian population and ONUCI personal.”
14. Cutaway, reporters
15. Med shot, Leroy walking out
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (21 December) voiced alarm over the recent increase of intimidation tactics in Côte d'Ivoire by elements of the national security forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo against the civilian population.
The Secretary-General, speaking to an informal meeting of the General Assembly, said the UN mission in the country (ONUCI) has “been accused of violating Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereignty and providing support to the Forces Nouvelles, including by distributing arms.”
Ban highlighted the role of the state media, as “being used to incite violence against UNOCI” and disseminate false information against its mission.
Yesterday, the UN mission in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) accused Gbagbo, who refuses to step down despite international recognition of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the clear victor in November’s run-off poll, of launching a new wave of harassment against its staff, including night-time knocks on the door by armed men, after the earlier shooting at a UN convoy.
Speaking to the press, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain LeRoy said that Gbagbo government and its followers, including a group known as the Young Patriots, are trying to “strangle” UNOCI through the use of radio and TV, hampering the access of supplies and by pushing staff “out of their homes.”
Leroy also confirmed the presence of mercenaries possibly from Liberia and Angola in the country “clearly used to attack, provoke the civilian population and ONUCI personal.”
The Security Council yesterday, rebuffing a demand by Côte d'Ivoire’s president that ONUCI leave after it certified his electoral defeat, renewed the nearly 9,000-strong force for another six months, foreshadowed a possible increase and threatened sanctions against those imperilling peace.
In a unanimous resolution, the Council condemned “in the strongest possible terms the attempts to usurp the will of the people and undermine the integrity of the electoral process and any progress in the peace process in Côte d'Ivoire,” where UNOCI has been supporting efforts over the past seven years to reunify the West African country, which was split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.
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