AU Panel Due In Cote D'Ivoire

AU Panel Due In Cote D'Ivoire

The panel of five Heads of State mandated by the African Union, AU to find a political solution to the Ivorian crisis is due in Cote d'Ivoire on Monday.

The panel is headed by the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Aziz, while other members include Idris Derby of Chad , Jacob Zuma of South Africa , Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso .

The visit by the panel was preceded by that of 13 AU experts from the five African countries, who spent four days, February 6 to 10 , in Abidjan meeting with the key actors in the crisis, Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo.

Meeting with stakeholders

The special representative of the AU in Cote d'Ivoire , Ambroise Niyonsaba, said that the experts met the Civil Society Organisations, political party leaders, diplomats and the UN operation in Cote d'Ivoire .

The experts were led by the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra.

The heads of state had met in Nouakchott to study the reports and recommendations by the experts to decide the way forward for Cote d'Ivoire .

Two-part report

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania, Babah Abdallah, was quoted as saying that the experts concluded their reports on Saturday.

“From February 6 to February 10, the experts have met in Abidjan with all parties involved in the electoral process in November. On this basis, they wrote a report in two parts. The first is an account of their meetings in Cote d'Ivoire and the recommendations of different actors, the second contains the experts' proposals for ending the crisis,'' Abdallah said.

The panel is expected to propose binding decisions to the two sides based on the recommendations of the experts.

The UN says more than  300 people have died in violent clashes since the political crisis began in December.

NAN/Margaret/Yinka