102 Political and security questions Chapter II Political and security questions Africa In 2003, Africa continued to be beset by conflicts Burundi’s Transitional Government witnessed and political dissension and the United Nations a peaceful transition of power at the level of remained involved in the search for solutions. head of State in 2003. The African Union (AU) Two regions in particular were the focus of UN deployed a mission to Burundi to oversee the attention—the Great Lakes area and West Africa— ceasefire agreements and the United Nations and although some progress was achieved in peace- Office in Burundi continued to play a role in the making efforts, the conflicts raised tension and peace process, which included agreement by threatened to spread beyond national borders. most political parties on defence and security During the year, the Security Council sent missions power-sharing. to both regions. The Council also examined the In Rwanda, which still suffered from the causes of conflict in Africa and ways to pro- effects of the 1994 genocide, the Government ex- mote peace and security in order to prevent fur- pressed determination to bring peace to the ther hostilities, as did the General Assembly. The country through reconciliation and by bringing Secretary-General also sent a multidisciplinary to justice the extremists who carried the greatest mission to countries in the Great Lakes region responsibility for the genocide. Presidential and in a renewed effort to move the peace process for- parliamentary elections were held, and were, for ward and to investigate the possibility of a com- the most part, orderly. A number of former com- prehensive and integrated approach to peace, batants returned from the DRC during the year. security and development. The mission found A coup d’état in the Central African Republic that the crisis of governance and widespread overturned the plans for a national dialogue poverty were the two main underlying causes of under President-elect Félix Patassé. Led by Gen- conflict in that region. eral François Bozizé, the new authorities, as part In the Democratic Republic of the Congo of a transition period, organized a national dia- (DRC), fighting between numerous armed mili- logue that included all political opinions, and tias, whose alliances were constantly shifting, in- stated their intention to hold national elections in tensified at the beginning of the year, despite late 2004. signs in late 2002 of progress towards establish- Conflicts continued in West Africa, and the ing a two-year transitional Government leading concurrent fighting in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and up to national elections. The presence of foreign Sierra Leone threatened the stability of the troops in eastern DRC, the site of most of the whole region, as did the movement of armed mi- fighting, further complicated the already tense litias and individuals between countries to seek situation and threatened the stability of the refuge, loot and/or serve as mercenaries. The whole region. However, the United Nations, United Nations, the AU, the Economic Com- which had increased the size of its mission in the munity of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU) were involved in mediating DRC to nearly 11,000 troops, and others continued efforts in those countries and in Guinea-Bissau. mediation efforts. In April, participants in the Political factions of Côte d’Ivoire reached an Inter-Congolese Dialogue signed a Final Act en- agreement in January, signed at Linas-Marcoussis, dorsing measures to restore peace and national France, on a power-sharing mechanism to govern sovereignty, and agreeing to implement the the country, but little progress was made in framework for the transitional Government. As implementing its terms. The three main rebel the parties agreed, President Joseph Kabila re- movements (the Forces Nouvelles) seized control mained in office when a new Government was of the northern half of the country and the formed and some foreign troops were with- Government retained control of the south. In drawn. A pacification process was begun in east- May, the Security Council created the United ern DRC, and the parties agreed to a plan for can- Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (MINUCI), with tonment and demilitarization of their troops. an initial strength of 255 troops, to complement The political institutions of the transitional Gov- and eventually replace the ECOWAS and French ernment began to function in late 2003, although forces already serving as peacekeepers. In May, progress remained slow. the opposition parties withdrew from the Gov- YUN03—4th proofs May 25 2005 Africa 103 ernment of National Reconciliation and fighting Agreements on a ceasefire and solving the border resumed; however, the peace process took hold issue. Following the completion in 2002 of the again in December when the two sides agreed border’s delimitation, efforts focused in 2003 on to resume disarmament and demobilization of demarcation of the border. Both sides were pre- troops, and the opposition rejoined the Govern- sented with maps of the delimited border and ment. asked for comments. Ethiopia, which had pre- In Liberia, rebel movements gained control of viously accepted the delimitation decision, ques- nearly two thirds of the country, and elections, tioned the boundary, leaving the path for future originally scheduled for October, were post- progress unclear at the end of the year. The situa- poned until 2004 due to the resumption of civil tion on the ground remained calm, despite some war. Although a ceasefire was signed in June by restrictions on the movement of the United the Government and two rebel groups, it was Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea soon violated and Liberia was plunged into a new (UNMEE). Progress was made in the release of the cycle of violence. ECOWAS sent a vanguard peace- remaining prisoners of war. keeping force to the country in August, which The parties to the national reconciliation pro- was followed by a multinational force and, on cess in Somalia, begun in 2002 at the Eldoret 7 October, by the United Nations Mission in Li- (Kenya) Conference, continued to participate in beria (UNMIL), which was established by the discussions on setting up federal governance Security Council with a mandated maximum structures and establishing a ceasefire; the strength of 15,000 troops. Following the depar- United Nations remained involved in the discus- ture of President Charles Taylor from the sions. Nevertheless, fighting continued in parts country, a peace agreement was signed by the of Somalia, especially in Mogadishu and Baidoa, Government, two rebel groups, political parties blocking airports and seaports and thus slowing and civil society leaders, providing for a national delivery of humanitarian aid. transitional Government. By the end of the year, The United Nations pursued efforts to hold a some mechanisms for its implementation were referendum in Western Sahara, which would give set up, but the armed groups had not yet com- the people the right to decide the fate of the Ter- plied with its terms. ritory, by electing either independence or inte- Sierra Leone remained relatively calm in 2003 gration with Morocco. The decision to hold a ref- as the Government continued, after 10 years of erendum was made in 1990 by the Government civil war, to disarm ex-combatants and reinte- of Morocco and the Frente Popular para la grate them into society. Having set benchmarks Liberación de Saguía el-Hamra y de Río de Oro for the withdrawal of the United Nations Mission (POLISARIO). In 2003, the Secretary-General’s in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeeping troops, Personal Envoy attempted to break the deadlock the Security Council approved the Mission’s re- over the form of any future Government by pro- duction from nearly 16,000 troops to 11,500 by posing a new peace plan. POLISARIO eventually the end of the year. Fighting continued to occur accepted the plan, but Morocco had not given a along the Sierra Leone/Liberia border, and definitive response by the end of the year. The fighting in Liberia caused thousands of refugees Identification Commission completed its work to flee to Sierra Leone, threatening the security on the electronic archiving of the nearly 145,000 on the Sierra Leonean side of the border. The individual files of persons who applied to be in- Government made efforts to reduce tensions cluded on the list of voters. During the year, internally, in particular by establishing a special POLISARIO released 643 Moroccan prisoners of court to try war crimes and by regaining control war and continued to hold another 600 in deten- of diamond mining. tion. Guinea-Bissau’s serious political and eco- Angola demonstrated in 2003 that it was firmly nomic situation deteriorated in 2003. Opposition on the path of political, social and economic re- leaders accused the Government of arbitrary covery,following the 2002 signing of a memoran- decision-making, restrictions on the media and dum of understanding between the Government harassment of political opponents. A non-violent and the National Union for the Total Indepen- coup d’état, led by the military, overturned the dence of Angola (UNITA). Discussions were Government in September. An agreement was held by the two sides in 2003 on the structure reached on a transitional Government, which of the new Government, and agreement was pledged to hold legislative and presidential elec- reached on a basic framework. The Government tions within 6 and 18 months, respectively. announced that the next general elections would The United Nations continued to mediate in be held in 2004. The Secretary-General reported the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute and in moni- that the United Nations Mission in Angola toring the implementation of the 2000 Algiers (UNMA) had completed its political mandate, and YUN03—4th proofs May 25 2005 104 Political and security questions recommended that the UN Resident Coordina- nisms could promote peace and security to pre- tor take over responsibility for UN system activi- vent conflicts in Africa.