Africa

Africa

UN official calls for "fair, peaceful" elections in Cote d'Ivoire

20 April 2013 02:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The UN special envoy for Cote d'Ivoire, Bert Koenders, on Friday called for "fair, transparent, free and peaceful regional and municipal elections in the country on Sunday," Martin Nesirky, the UN spokesman, told reporters here, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In the message to the international community, Koenders, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for Cote d' Ivoire, noted that there "were reports of incidents during the electoral campaign" and "he called on political stakeholders to exercise their highest sense of responsibility to guarantee elections free of violence," Nesirky said at a daily news briefing here.

Consequently, the United Nations Operations in Cote d'Ivoire ( UNOCI) will be "following closely the different stages of the electoral process in Abidjan and in other parts of the country," he said.

Recent news reports out of the United Nations applauded the country's "considerable progress" in their security situation two years after post-election violence reared its head in the West African country.

The UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Edmond Mulet, said earlier this week that "Cote d'Ivoire has made progress since the end of the post-election crisis and has entered a new phase of peace consolidation," but has experienced "recent incidents of instability in the western parts of the country along the border with Liberia."

These outbursts of volatility "show the fragility of the situation and they are an indication that Cote d'Ivoire is still faced with serious threats that need to be addressed to ensure the country's sustainable stability," Mulet said.

The municipal and regional elections are scheduled to take place on April 21 across Cote d'Ivoire. Observers have called for peaceful elections, especially after a few violent incidents reported during the campaign period.