News :: Media
Africa Worries over Ivory Coast Peace
by prensa latina	 05 Oct 2005
Pretoria, Oct 5 (Prensa Latina) Acting on a call by South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who´s been acting as a facilitator in the process, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council is meeting Thursday in Addis Abba, Ethiopia, to look into the peace process on the Ivory Coast.
President Mbeki was mandated by the AU to mediate a truce between warring parties on the Ivory Coast to end a three-year civil war in the cocoa producing nation. This resulted in the signing of the Pretoria I and II accords, BUA News recalls Wednesday.
However, the conflicting parties have failed to implement the agreements on disarmament and the establishment of a single army.
Elections are scheduled for October 30 but rebel groups and the warring parties said the situation was not conducive to holding the poll.
The South African president will be accompanied at the Thursday meeting by Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the meeting in Addis Abba followed the Council meeting in New York last September, where it was decided to review the situation.
The meeting will also receive recommendations from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) that held its Heads of State summit last week to assess the Ivory Coast situation.
The outcome of that one day summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, was not disclosed but it is expected that it will be discussed at tomorrow´s meeting. The Ivory Coast is still divided between the rebel-held North and government-held South.