Côte d'Ivoire / UNOCI chief sends a mission to assess incidents in Bonon

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, February 27, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Bert Koenders, sent the Force Commander and Police Commissioner of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) to Bonon on Monday following post-election incidents that occurred in the area on 26 February 2012.

The Mission will try to identify the circumstances surrounding an incident in which unidentified armed individuals shot at a convoy of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) transporting ballot boxes from Gobazra to Bonon, and escorted by UNOCI peacekeepers. The peacekeepers responded in a robust and appropriate manner in accordance with their rules of engagement.

The peacekeepers were also forced to respond to another attack perpetrated a few hours later against an IEC office in Bonon while electoral agents and UNOCI personnel who had gone to support them, along with electoral material, were in the building.

The Special Representative strongly condemns these two attacks and would like the relevant authorities to do everything possible to clarify the circumstances surrounding them and have the perpetrators identified and brought to justice as soon as possible in keeping with the law.

The head of UNOCI calls on the political actors to avoid provoking incidents and urges them to settle any conflicts by peaceful means.