Posted on 04/29/2003 5:04:26 PM PDT by ellery
UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on Tuesday to quickly fund a peacekeeping mission in strife-torn Ivory Coast that has been stalled by U.S. objections to its price tag.
A council resolution drafted by France nearly four weeks ago proposed setting up a U.N. operation with 255 military and civilian staff in the West African nation, which has divided along ethnic lines after months of civil war despite a peace deal reached in January.
But the resolution was blocked after Washington objected to its projected one-year price-tag of $27 million and sent the measure back to the U.N. peacekeeping department -- led by Frenchman Jean-Marie Guehenno -- for a serious trimming.
U.S. and French diplomats insist the dispute has nothing to do with the frayed ties between Paris and Washington, damaged by France's fight against U.N. approval for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Other envoys, however, say the U.S. move has irritated Paris by denting hopes the new mission would help it gradually extricate itself from the Ivory Coast, its former colony.
More than 3,000 French troops are currently policing a cease-fire there under a peace deal brokered by Paris.
FRENCH FORCES UNDER FIRE
The French forces have been criticized by Ivory Coast officials who accuse them of helping rebel soldiers fighting to oust President Laurent Gbagbo since a failed coup in September.
France has denied this, but the rebels say the French are all that prevent them from taking Abidjan, the country's southern economic hub which remains in government hands.
Annan has repeatedly called on the 15-nation Security Council to quickly approve the mission to give a boost to a region weakened by conflict in nearby Sierra Leone and neighboring Liberia as well as Ivory Coast.
Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday: "I have recommended the establishment of a small U.N. operation comprising military liaison components, as well as human rights, civil affairs and media components."
"I hope that council members will shortly authorize this mission, so that the United Nations can strengthen its role in the Ivorian peace process," he said.
French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere played down any differences with the United States over the mission resolution, saying he expected it to move ahead within a few days.
But U.S. representative Richard Williamson said Washington had made its objections known to the U.N. peacekeeping department a week ago and had not yet had a response.
The United States, pouring billions of dollars into Iraqi reconstruction after toppling its former leader Saddam Hussein, proposed slashing the Ivory Coast mission to about a third of the size proposed by the U.N. department.
Washington has proposed a mission of about 45 international staff while the U.N. proposal was for about 160.
The mission would include military liaison officers to work with French and West African peacekeepers already on the ground and civilian staff to work on human rights, child soldier and refugee problems, political activities in support of the peace process and preparations for planned 2005 elections.
Annan has repeatedly called on the 15-nation Security Council to quickly approve the mission to give a boost to a region weakened by conflict in nearby Sierra Leone and neighboring Liberia as well as Ivory Coast.Brilliant. We should use our veto power to frustrate every design of our French brothers and sisters in particular, and the UN in general. And we should all drink more Australian wine and have lots of lots of sex.
In other words, the French want to surrender and leave, and stick the US with the conflict. Washington realizes this and is extracting some very needed payback from the French hide. My heart friggin bleeds.
Certainly we should find alternatives to French products, but you sound like you are advocating getting stupid drunk and sireing a bunch of children who will suffer from Alcohol Fetal Syndrome.
Certainly we should find alternatives to French products, but you sound like you are advocating getting stupid drunk and sireing a bunch of children who will suffer from Alcohol Fetal Syndrome.Point taken. Permit me a revision. We should all drink lots of Australian wine responsibly, say, a glass or two taken with our dinners, and we should all have lots and lots of responsible sex, between consenting adults, protected if we're not in a long-term relationship and not completely open to the possibility of life etc., etc.
Would you imagine the French just letting us walk out of Iraq without rebuilding it?
I'm sorry. I think I liked the original better too.
Too bad, France! Now you know how it feels.
Good. Let them finally deal with their own quagmires, instead of leaving their messes to others, as they did to us with "IndoChina" (Vietnam and Cambodia and 50,000 U.S. dead).
Look at the worst 3rd world cesspools around the world and see who were the colonial masters...the French. Unlike the Brits the French left wholesale misery, poverty and murderous dictatorships in their wake.
Filthy French bastards.
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