EU Council conclusions on Côte d’Ivoire

3082nd FOREIGN AFFAIRS Coun­cil meet­ing
Lux­em­bourg, 12 April 2011
The Coun­cil adopt­ed the fol­low­ing con­clu­sions:
“1. Fol­low­ing the arrest of Lau­rent Gbag­bo, the EU wel­comes the dec­la­ra­tion of Pres­i­dent Ouat­tara that he intends to pur­sue a pol­i­cy of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and recon­struc­tion in Côte d’Ivoire. It appeals to all par­ties to refrain imme­di­ate­ly from any fur­ther acts of vio­lence or intim­i­da­tion. The EU stress­es the need for full coop­er­a­tion with the legit­i­mate author­i­ties in the swift re-estab­lish­ment of law and order through­out the coun­try. It is imper­a­tive to cre­ate as soon as pos­si­ble con­di­tions in which all cit­i­zens can, with­out fear or harass­ment, return to their homes and work, and resume a nor­mal life in peace and secu­ri­ty. The EU pledges its sup­port for the cre­ation of those con­di­tions and for the restora­tion of social and polit­i­cal har­mo­ny. This is an his­toric opportunity.

2. The EU wel­comes Pres­i­dent Ouattara’s com­mit­ment to achiev­ing nation­al rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. It stands ready to sup­port the work of the pro­posed Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Com­mis­sion, and encour­ages Pres­i­dent Ouat­tara to form an inclu­sive, broad-based gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tive of all the regions and all strands of polit­i­cal opin­ion in the coun­try. The rec­on­cil­i­a­tion process will lay the foun­da­tions of the country’s recov­ery. To this end, the EU acknowl­edges the impor­tance of dis­ar­ma­ment, demo­bil­i­sa­tion and rein­te­gra­tion (DDR) and the reform of the secu­ri­ty sec­tor. It urges the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mis­sion of Inquiry into human rights vio­la­tions estab­lished by the UN Human Rights Coun­cil on 25 March 2011 to inves­ti­gate the alle­ga­tions of such vio­la­tions as swift­ly and thor­ough­ly as pos­si­ble. As the EU has said repeat­ed­ly on pre­vi­ous occa­sions, all those found respon­si­ble for such crimes must be held account­able for their acts. In this con­text, it wel­comes Pres­i­dent Ouattara’s com­mit­ment to fight impuni­ty and to sup­port the work of the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mis­sion. Impuni­ty can­not be allowed to under­mine the re-estab­lish­ment of pub­lic con­fi­dence in the gov­ern­ment and the secu­ri­ty forces. 

3. The EU con­sid­ers that the unit­ed stance of the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mu­ni­ty has been cru­cial in the res­o­lu­tion of this cri­sis. It recog­nis­es the uni­ty of pur­pose demon­strat­ed by the Eco­nom­ic Com­mu­ni­ty of West Africa (ECOWAS), the West African Eco­nom­ic and Mon­e­tary Union (WAEMU) and the African Union (AU). The Unit­ed Nations (UN) has also played a par­tic­u­lar­ly cru­cial part. The EU wel­comes the essen­tial and con­tin­u­ing role of the UN Oper­a­tion in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), assist­ed by the French force “Licorne”, in pro­tect­ing the civil­ian pop­u­la­tion in Côte d’Ivoire in line with its man­date and UN Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil res­o­lu­tion 1975.

4. The EU affirms its will­ing­ness to sup­port the rapid eco­nom­ic recon­struc­tion of the coun­try. In order the assist the re-launch of the econ­o­my of Côte d’Ivoire and in response to the pub­lic request of Pres­i­dent Ouat­tara, the Coun­cil has decid­ed to lift restric­tive mea­sures on the ports of Abid­jan and San Pedro, the Ivo­rian Refin­ing Com­pa­ny and the Cof­fee and Cocoa Trade Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee with imme­di­ate effect. In con­sul­ta­tion with the Gov­ern­ment of Côte d’Ivoire, it will con­sid­er lift­ing fur­ther mea­sures to reflect the chang­ing cir­cum­stances. The EU is prepar­ing a com­pre­hen­sive recov­ery pack­age, in con­sul­ta­tion with Pres­i­dent Ouattara’s Gov­ern­ment, using the full range of its instru­ments. It will resume its devel­op­ment assis­tance pro­grammes in full as soon as pos­si­ble and will exam­ine the pos­si­bil­i­ty of deliv­er­ing some quick-dis­burs­ing assis­tance to meet imme­di­ate needs.

5. The EU remains seri­ous­ly con­cerned at the human­i­tar­i­an sit­u­a­tion in the coun­try and its impact on neigh­bour­ing coun­tries, in par­tic­u­lar Liberia. The EU will work close­ly with the UN and oth­er inter­na­tion­al agen­cies to alle­vi­ate the suf­fer­ing of those dis­placed by the con­flict or in need of essen­tial sup­plies where they live. In addi­tion to the EUR 30 mil­lion already pro­vid­ed by the Com­mis­sion and bilat­er­al con­tri­bu­tions of Mem­ber States, the EU is com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing fur­ther human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance as required. It is essen­tial to ensure a secure human­i­tar­i­an space for the urgent and effi­cient deliv­ery of human­i­tar­i­an aid.

6. The EU deeply regrets the unnec­es­sary loss of life and destruc­tion of eco­nom­ic pros­per­i­ty that has accom­pa­nied the cur­rent cri­sis. It is impor­tant not mere­ly for Côte d’Ivoire but for the whole region that, with the restora­tion of account­able gov­ern­ment, the coun­try can re-estab­lish its sta­bil­i­ty, peace and pros­per­i­ty, so that shat­tered lives can be re-built, fam­i­lies be re-unit­ed and nor­mal life be resumed. The EU will con­tin­ue to work with all coun­tries of the region to reduce pover­ty, stim­u­late growth and sup­port account­able gov­ern­ment and the respect of human rights.” 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter