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U.N. Approves Ivory Coast Peacekeepers
2004-02-28
The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously approved deployment of over 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Ivory Coast and demanded that the government and rebels meet all requirements of a peace deal so presidential elections can be held in 2005.
Didn’t Joseph Conrad write about this once?
China’s U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, the current council president, set the vote after the U.S. Congress gave its approval for the force. The United States will not contribute any troops, but the congressional approval was required because Washington pays 27 percent of U.N. peacekeeping costs.
Of course we do.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan commended the council for approving the resolution and said it will send "a clear message that the international community supports the Ivorian peace process and is determined to play its role in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa." "A strengthened United Nations presence in Ivory Coast will ... help the country prepare for the holding of fair and transparent general elections in 2525 2005." The U.N. force will be established April 4 for an initial period of one year. The 1,000-strong West African peacekeeping force will become part of the U.N. force on that date. Some 4,000 French troops will remain in the country, but will not be part of the U.N. force.
Rather unilateral of them.
The United Nations says it’s too early to say what countries might contribute troops to the force, aside from the West African contingent.
How about the mighty Uruguayans?
Alain Lobognon, a rebel spokesman in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, welcomed the council’s decision, saying: "We think that this will lead to good progress in our efforts to seize the rest of the country the peace process in Ivory Coast." The force in Ivory Coast will bring the total number of U.N. peacekeepers in West Africa to more than 30,000. The peacekeeping contingent in Liberia, soon to hit 15,000, is the world’s largest U.N. peace force; there are 11,500 U.N. troops in Sierra Leone.
We’re paying 27% of that, too.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: mojo   2004-2-28 1:35:06 AM  

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