UN Security Council renews Ivory Coast sanctions for a year
The UN Security Council has renewed a raft of sanctions against Ivory Coast for another year, including an arms embargo and a ban on trade in rough diamonds. The world’s top cocoa producer was once fairly stable and prosperous, until a 2002 civil war split the country. A new UN report says both sides have continued re-arming, despite long-delayed plans for an election now scheduled for late November to reunite the nation. The Security Council says Ivory Coast continues to pose a threat to peace and security in the West African region. That’s because it pushes up against Liberia and nearby Sierra Leone, which fought simultaneous civil wars for 10 years apiece. Ivory Coast also neighbours Guinea, which has just had a coup, and whose leaders massacred some 200 demonstrators in September while conducting an orgy of rape.Read more: Reuters, International Crisis Group
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