Global Policy Forum

The U.N. Security Council reiterated its "full support" Thursday for Ivory Coast's prime minister exercising the wide powers it gave him to prepare for elections next year, implicitly rejecting an alternative peace plan by the country's president. The council stood by the resolution it adopted on Nov. 1 that extended Ivory Coast's transitional government for a final year and gave new powers to the country's unelected prime minister, Charles Konan Banny, to implement a peace plan and prepare for long-delayed elections.

President Laurent Gbagbo has rejected the road map to peace drawn up by a group of mediators known as the International Working Group and backed by the United Nations. He presented an alternative peace plan Wednesday, calling for the abolishment of a buffer zone between rebels and government forces in Ivory Coast and direct talks with rebels.

The Security Council statement, adopted by consensus and read at a formal meeting, made no mention of Gbagbo's rival plan but its clear support of Banny constituted an implicit rejection.

Ivory Coast has been split into a rebel-held north and a government-run south since rebels failed to topple Gbagbo in a 2002 coup. Gbagbo's mandate should have expired in 2005, but elections had to be postponed twice because both sides were unwilling to compromise.

The U.N. has backed extending Gbagbo's mandate in the absence of elections, but also supported the appointment last year of Banny after international mediators persuaded both the government and rebels to accept him. The Security Council in November endorsed an African Union decision extending the government's mandate for another year but giving Banny control of security forces and the power to govern by decree if necessary as he works to steer the country to elections before a November 2007 deadline.

The resolution also gave the prime minister a new mandate to implement all provisions of the International Working Group's road map to reunite the country, and "all the necessary power and means" to implement the transition program. The mandate includes disarming militias, overseeing the registration of voters, restoring state authority throughout the country, and implementing agreements between the opposing sides to hold free elections by Oct. 31, 2007 at the latest.

The council's presidential statement adopted Thursday welcomed Banny's announcement of immediate measures to relaunch the identification of voters and said it expects "more concrete measures in place" to implement the disarmament program. "The Security Council reiterates its full support for the prime minister," the statement said. "The Security Council reaffirms that the prime minister must exercise his powers without hindrance, including his authority over the defense and security forces ... and calls upon all Ivorian parties to support his efforts." The council asked the African Union mediator to visit Ivory Coast to relaunch the peace process as soon as possible.

Gbagbo has said repeatedly in recent months that the war-divided West African country should kick out U.N. and French peacekeepers and push toward elections and a unified government on its own. Speaking on state television late Tuesday, he said Ivory Coast "can organize presidential elections by the month of July 2007" under his leadership. He did not say if this was a commitment by his administration to hold the vote by that date.

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