UN lifts Ivory Coast sanctions, plans to shut down mission

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Thursday lifted the last remaining sanctions on Ivory Coast and said it would shut down its mission there next year.

It was the latest sign that the West African country has bounced back from turmoil.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre has described the move to end the 12-year sanction regime and wind down the mission as a "success story" for the United Nations in Africa.

The world's top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast was torn by crises during president Laurent Gbagbo's rule from 2000 to 2011.

After Gbagbo refused to recognize the victory of Alassane Ouattara in elections in 2010, fighting broke out, leaving 3,000 dead in five months.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted two French-drafted resolutions that lift the remaining restrictions of an arms embargo imposed in 2004 and scraps assets freezes and travel bans on six people.

These include Gbagbo, his wife Simone Gbagbo -- both of whom are on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague - and youth leader Charles Ble Goude.

In 2014, the council had lifted a ban on the diamonds trade in Ivory Coast.

The UN mission in Ivory Coast will be gradually drawn down from its current strength of 4,000 to some 2,000 in August before shutting down altogether in June 2017.

Ivory Coast's UN Ambassador Claude Bouah-Kamon thanked the countries that contributed troops to the mission, which he said was "perfectly successful" in achieving its goals.

Bouah-Kamon said his country was mindful that it faced important tasks with the planned departure of the UN mission, including plans to modernise the military and security forces.