No further developments observed.

The amnesty law was passed and implemented in 2007. Thus there are no further developments.

The Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA) specified that the parties to the accord agreed to extend the scope of the amnesty law passed in 2003 and agreed to adopt a new amnesty law covering crimes committed between 17 September 2000 and the date of the Ouagadougou accord. The accord’s proposed amnesty law, however, did not cover economic crimes, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

As provided for in the accord, a new amnesty law was unveiled on 12 April 2007 that pardoned all Ivoirians living in the country and abroad who had committed crimes and offences related to national security. The law covered the time period between 17 September 2000 and 4 March 2007, when the accord was signed. The new amnesty law excluded economic crimes, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.¹ Sixty-one civilian and military prisoners (40 civilians and 21 military personnel) who had committed crimes related to national security were set free on 7 June 2007 as a result of the new amnesty law.²

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2219 extending the arms embargo on Cote d’Ivoire; the Council noted that it would “review the sanctions regime before the end of next April with a view of further modifying or lifting all or part of the remaining measures in light of progress in security reform, reintegration of former combatants, reconciliation and the fight against impunity. It stressed the importance, in that context, of holding peaceful and credible elections, as planned for October 2015.”³

The UN reported that as of December 1, approximately 44,000 former combatants had benefited from reinsertion support. “UNOCI assisted the Government’s reinsertion efforts through the implementation of 79 community-based, countrywide reinsertion projects aimed at the enhancement of community safety and social cohesion, the reinforcement of the weapons collection programme and the payment of transitional safety allowances to approximately 24,000 former combatants.”⁴

The head of the ADDR, Fidèle Sarassoro, reported in November that 14,000 former combatants would remain at different stages of the reinsertion process by June 2015 and requested the continued support of UNOCI for their reinsertion and reintegration.⁵

The UN reported that by early December, “a total of 15,384 demobilized individuals had benefited from reinsertion and/or reintegration support in the public or informal sectors, of whom 5,459 had officially been reintegrated, including 2,002 into the prison administration, and 9,425 continued reinsertion training, including 2,000 into the customs service and 500 into the water and forestry service.”⁶

Moreover: “In October, another initiative was launched for 10,065 “self-reinserted” individuals to receive civic and professional training. As at December, approximately 8,000 former combatants had benefited from this project. In addition, UNOCI launched 12 community-based reinsertion initiatives.”⁷

However, the DDR process struggled both to finalize the details of a national program and with lack of financial resources. “Reinsertion and reintegration in particular remain challenging because of a lack of funding and employment opportunities. While reinsertion and reintegration efforts targeting the public and private sectors were made, including in respect of opportunities for education and in the informal sector, most progress was in employment in the public sector and self-employment.”⁸

The government was coordinating with UNOCI to move combatants through the DDR program. This included approval on August 2 of a national policy that established a single Authority for Disarmement, Demobilizaiton, and Reintegration (ADDR) as well as a plan for all individuals over 18 years of age who had participated in the fighting in 2002 and/or the post-elections crisis to undergo disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, with an overall caseload estimated at 100,000 former combatants.⁹

“The Authority for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration developed a pilot programme for an initial caseload of 5,000 former combatants to be processed at the Anyama demobilization site in Abidjan. The operation targeted mainly elements associated with FRCI who had fought on the side of President Ouattara during the post-elections crisis. A total of 2,000 of those 5,000 former combatants will be integrated into the Government’s penitentiary system, while others will be considered for placement in the customs, water and forestry services.” So far, 500 former combatants had been deployed to work in prisons, while 443 were being trained.¹⁰

The UN also reported that two sites rehabilitated by UNOCI in Guiglo and Bouaké were ready for operations, and the remaining six, in San Pedro, Man, Séguéla, Korhogo, Bouna and Abengourou, were expected to be completed by mid-2013.¹¹

After contested elections in 2010 and subsequent conflict in early 2011, the reintegration process did not move smoothly. No substantial progress was made.

Reintegration of ex-combatants did not move smoothly due to lack of funding for the national institutions responsible for carrying this out. Nevertheless, the 1,000 micro-projects funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund were completed in early 2010 and benefitted 3,637 combatants. The second round of micro-projects, which were expected to benefit over 1,200 ex-combatants, was initiated in September 2010.¹²

In 2009, an estimated 25,000 combatants were expecting reintegration. The national institutions responsible for reintegrating ex-combatants lacked resources to implement related provisions of the accord. Nevertheless, the United Nations Operation in C™te d’Ivoire (UNOCI), in collaboration with development agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, provided short-term reintegration support to an estimated 3,407 ex-combatants through 225 micro-projects in 23 different locations.¹³