GUIDANCE FOR PRST ON COTE D'IVOIRE

UNCLAS STATE 119223

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNSC PREL PHUM PU XA XY
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR PRST ON COTE D'IVOIRE


1. USUN is instructed to join consensus on the PRST on
Cte d'Ivoire (para 2) on November 7 in the UN Security
Council.


2. Begin text of PRST:

The Security Council takes note that, as mentioned in
the report of the Secretary-General dated 14 October, the
peace process has crossed a critical milestone with the
launching of the identification and registration of
voters operations on 15 September. It also however notes
that the delays occurred since the launch of the identification
and voter registration processes on 15 September have proven
greater than expected. It takes note that the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General indicated on the
27 October 2008 that, if the elections scheduled for the
30 November 2008 were delayed, they were likely to be
delayed by several months, due mainly to some logistical
difficulties. The Security Council expresses its deep
concern about a possible third consecutive delay since
the signature of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement, which
could put at risk the entire Ivorian peace process.

The Security Council commends the Facilitator for
convening a meeting of the permanent consultative
framework on the 10 November 2008, in order for the
Ivorian political actors to address all the main
difficulties of the electoral process, and in particular
with a view to finding an agreement on the new electoral
timeframe. It urges all the Ivorian political actors to
cooperate fully with the Facilitator, with the support
of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and
to demonstrate their political determination to fulfill
the commitments taken in the Ouagadougou agreement and
in the framework of its follow-up mechanisms.

The Security Council further urges to this end the
President of the Independent Electoral Commission, which
is in charge of the organization of the elections, to
share publicly this new timeline, including in
particular the full roll out of the identification process
and some other stages such as the publication of the provisional
and final versions of the electoral list, the
fabrication and distribution of the identity and voter's cards
and the date of the presidential election. It emphasizes that
all political actors must pay a particular attention to the
accumulating logistical delay.

The Security Council urges the Ivorian parties to take
immediately and as a priority the concrete steps
necessary to complete the identification and registration of
voters operations in a credible and transparent manner before
the end of January 2009. It expresses its determination to
bring its full support to a credible electoral process
in Cte d'Ivoire, on the understanding that the
presidential elections will be organized before the end
of spring 2009.
The Security Council recalls that all political parties
agreed to abide by the Code of Good Conduct for
elections they signed under the auspices of the Secretary-General
on 23 April 2008.

The Security Council recalls that, pursuant to
resolution 1572 (2004) and 1842 (2008),any threat to the electoral
process in Cte d'Ivoire shall constitute a threat to
the peace and national reconciliation process and it
reaffirms its determination to impose targeted measure against any
person designated by its Sanctions Committee concerning
Cte d'Ivoire to be responsible for these threats. The
Security Council expresses its willingness to review the
sanctions regime at the latest three months after the
presidential elections.

The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to
keep it informed of the evolution of the situation. It
reaffirms its full support to the efforts of his Special
Representative and his certification mandate, including
the explicit certification of the electoral list. It
expresses its intention to take the progress of the
electoral process fully in consideration when it will
review the mandate of UNOCI and the French forces which
support it, before 31 January 200
RICE