UN envoy calls for peaceful transition in war-torn Cote d'Ivoire

Pierre Schori, UN chief Kofi Annan's special representative in Cote d'Ivoire, on Wednesday called for a peaceful transition the war-torn African nation, whose peace process has remained locked in a stalemate since the beginning of summer.

Given the importance of Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa, the political crisis in the country needed a peaceful transition, said Schori at a meeting with Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaure in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Schori said that now was the time for Ivorian parties to make bold decisions to enable the nation to carry out that transition.

He said the new general elections would not be held in Cote d'Ivoire at the end of October as proposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECWAS).

The ECWAS and the African Union (AU) would hold separate summit meetings on the Ivorian crisis before the UN Security Council discuss the issue in late October, Schori said.

He stressed that it was up to Ivorian statesmen to implement the road map peace plan crafted by the ECWAS and endorsed by the AU and the United Nations.

On Sept. 20 the United Nations and key players in the Ivorian crisis -- with the exception of President Laurent Gbagbo -- postponed the Oct. 31 deadline for holding the polls, saying conditions were not right.

The 15-nation ECWAS, which meets on Friday, and the AU were tasked with coming up with a new poll date to be submitted to the UN Security Council before Oct. 17.

Cote d'Ivoire, a former French colony, has been divided into a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south since a brief civil war that broke out in 2002 after a failed coup.

Source: Xinhua