Sanctions threat to Ivory Coast

Date: 10/11/04

THE European Commission is pushing for a human rights clause to be invoked against Ivory Coast after the latest violence to engulf the city of Abidjan. Poul Nielson, the outgoing commissioner for development and humanitarian affairs, will today (10 November) try again to open proceedings against Laurent Gbagbo's government.

Nielson argued in August that the Ivorian authorities were not honouring a disarmament commitment in a 2003 peace deal and that sanctions should be threatened under the Cotonou Agreement that underpins relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc. His request was overruled by EU governments.

France, the country's old colonial master that brokered the peace accord last year, was the most vocal opponent of the Commission's request. Although the latest unrest was sparked by an Ivorian bombing raid which killed nine French soldiers last weekend, a Paris diplomat said France remained opposed to invoking the Cotonou agreement.

The European Commission is pushing for a human rights clause to be invoked against the Government of Ivory Coast after violence engulfed the city of Abidjan, 10 November 2004. This is the second attempt to do so after the Commission asked for sanctions against the country in August 2004 for alleged breaches of the Cotonou Agreement, which regulates the EU's relations with ACP countries.

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