UN Scribe To Attend AU Meeting

UN Scribe To Attend AU Meeting

The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon is to attend the 16 th Ordinary Session of the AU Summit in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , next week.

Mr. Ban is scheduled to hold high-level meetings with heads of state and government.

Ban said last week that the situation in Cote d'Ivoire would feature prominently on his to-do list during his trip to the AU Summit.

He said that he would step up efforts to ensure that Côte d'Ivoire 's rightful new president assumes office despite his predecessor's refusal to step down.

Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down despite the internationally recognised victory of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in November's run-off elections.

UN peacekeepers from UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) are currently protecting Ouattara and members of his new government in Abidjan 's Golf Hotel against the already six-week blockade siege by Gbagbo loyalists.

The UN has about 10,000 peacekeepers in the country.

Council vote expected

The Security Council is expected to vote on Wednesday, on a resolution to authorise another 2,000 peacekeepers as well as the temporary transfer of three armed helicopters from the UN peacekeeping mission in neighbouring Liberia .

Gbagbo has demanded UNOCI's withdrawal, which the UN has rejected.

Meanwhile, head of the UNOCI, Young Choi, told a news conference in New York by video-link from Abidjan , that forces loyal to Gbagbo opened fire towards UN peacekeepers on Monday night.

He called the latest attack a new “act of aggression'' , adding ''the situation is very, very hostile but their spirit remains high.”

''Until 10 days ago, the Gbagbo loyalists' hostility was largely confined to rhetoric and propaganda on television but now it has been transformed into actions. They are shooting at our convoys; fortunately nobody got killed yet but it's very close…They are shooting at us and they attacked and ransacked provision trucks escorted by UN security forces,” Choi added.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative noted that the regional bloc, ECOWAS still had a military option on the table.

According to him, Gbagbo and his allies, who have come under severe sanctions from the international community, will not be able to pay the 60,000 -strong security forces and the 140,000 civil servants if his access to the region's common currency dried up.

NAN/Margaret/Yinka