Global Policy Forum

By Evelyn Leopold

France on Friday pressed the U.N. Security Council to quickly approve a U.N. peacekeeping force of 6,240 troops for Ivory Coast but the United States expressed reservations about a quick vote.

Once a model of stability in Africa, the Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, has been torn apart by civil war since rebel soldiers mutinied against the government in September 2002. The conflict officially ended in July but the country is still divided between the government in the south and the rebels in the north. France fears the peace process could be damaged if U.N. troops do not arrive quickly, with combatants already anticipating their arrival.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said after talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that "the time has come to carry out this last phase of the peace process so that elections can take place under proper conditions." With elections less than 18 months away, deployment of the force "must take place rapidly," she told a news conference.

Washington opposed the force for months, mainly because of costs. With a scarcity of trained African troops and little money to support them, peacekeeping in Africa is expected to multiply this year in Liberia, Sudan and perhaps Burundi.

"We have some reservations about the numbers," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte told reporters, adding that he did not think Washington could reach a decision by Feb. 4 when France wants the measure adopted. "We really want to take a look at just the fundamental justification for a peacekeeping mission at this point," Negroponte said. During Alliot-Marie's U.N. visit, "no one I met with brought up this figure, whether to approve of it or question it," she said.

France has sent 4,000 troops to its former colony. West Africans are fielding 1,000 soldiers, which would be turned into peacekeepers and paid for by all U.N. members.

The French draft resolution, sent to council members late on Thursday, follows a recommendation by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send 6,240 troops to the Ivory Coast, including 200 officers as military observers and 120 staff officers. Annan, in the report, said the West Africans, who had also sent troops to Liberia, would probably remain in the Ivory Coast for at least three or four months but were overstretched. France, he said, would still be needed to provide a rapid reaction force.

The new draft resolution would have a U.N. force monitor a cease-fire, and help to disarm, demobilize and repatriate combatants. It is also meant to help the government extend its administration throughout the country and prepare for elections in 2005.

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