The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said that it had re-established a presence in western Côte d'Ivoire following January's violent destruction of the premises of several humanitarian organizations in the town of Guiglo, which led to the departure of most humanitarian staff and UN peacekeepers.

Cote d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny appear to be locked in disagreement over the thorny issue of disarmament. Last week key players meeting under African Union mediation agreed that a programme for disarmament of rebels and pro-government militia could run alongside an identification programme for up to 3 million disenfranchised Ivorians. But Gbagbo, who gave the thumbs up to simultaneous identification and disarmament back in February, appears to have changed his mind.

With up to a million and a half people displaced by civil war and conflicts over land and ethnicity in Côte d’Ivoire, Walter Kälin, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), is visiting the country to investigate their plight and advocate for their rights. He will meet members of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, organizations representing displaced persons, and national and international bodies concerned with their protection.

With his biting lyrics that name and shame African leaders and denounce Western politics, West African reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly knows his music has made him as many enemies as friends. The 37-year-old singer, who lives in Mali in self-imposed exile from his troubled home of Ivory Coast, is one of the most powerful voices for young African people. But he is also a thorn in the side of African politicians.

The UN’s top humanitarian official Jan Egeland is in war-torn Cote d’Ivoire seeking assurances from authorities that January’s anti-UN violence will not be repeated and that ringleaders of the attacks will be punished. “To those who have carried out criminal behaviour - attacking humanitarians or civilians - we are coming with a message that stimulating violence or attacking has to be punished,” the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said in the main city Abidjan on Wednesday.

The current African Union (AU) chairman, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, revealed here Saturday (February 11) that the continental body will soon initiate fresh moves to find a solution to the Ivorian crisis. Sassou Nguesso made the announcement in Brazzaville three days after the AU brokered a peace agreement between Chad and Sudan. N`djamena had accused Khartoum of assisting armed dissidents who have attacked several government targets in eastern Chad.

In a strongly worded statement, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has expressed concern over a decree issued by Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo allowing parliament to remain in office beyond its official mandate. “The Secretary-General expresses his concern about the unexpected issuance of a presidential decree concerning the National Assembly,” said a statement issued on Sunday (January 30).

In a strongly worded statement, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has expressed concern over a decree issued by Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo allowing parliament to remain in office beyond its official mandate. Annan stated that he was in disagreement with Gbagbo’s conclusions. "This announcement does not appear to be in conformity with the information he received from President Obasanjo and from the UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire on the outcome of the visit of the President of Nigeria to Abidjan," his statement said.

Ivory Coast's governing party says it will rejoin the government of national unity which it left last week. The Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) pulled out of the government on Tuesday (January 17) in protest at what it saw as international interference in the country's affairs. The party's leader told the BBC the decision would be reviewed if rebels who control the north of the country failed to disarm within three months. The pull-out came during anti-United Nations protests by FPI supporters. The FPI had been angered by a recommendation by a team of international mediators that parliament be dissolved.

Save the Children Sweden has been present in Côte d'Ivoire since 1999. We support children's own organisations, community-based initiatives, local NGOs, media workers and government structures to promote the respect for children's rights. We support initiatives to prevent trafficking, abuse and exploitation of children and we have a project to train military on child protection and the impacts of conflict on children. From 2006 we will expand our program to enhance quality education for children affected by the conflict in collaboration with Save the Children UK. This is part of an initiative at a global level from Save the Children Alliance to contribute to the Millennium Development Goal on education.

With the deepening political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire raising fears of a return to all-out conflict, the country’s estimated 500,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) face an increasingly precarious future. Many UN agencies and NGOs in the country have been finalising contingency plans for the “worst case scenario” entailing massive displacement and refugee flows into neighbouring countries. But while humanitarian agencies may be preparing for new and visible displacements on a large scale, existing IDPs are generally neglected and in an extremely vulnerable situation.

Rumours swirl about a military coup in the offing, police are bracing for protests, well-heeled Ivorians have booked flights out of the country, and there is a story doing the rounds about the birth of a talking baby who warned of violence within days. The nervousness is the end-product of the collapse of a peace plan that provided for elections to be held on Sunday 30 October when President Laurent Gbagbo’s five-year mandate runs out.

"Côte d'Ivoire Telecom wants to make the Internet accessible to everyone. The objective of our latest action is to allow the internet user to connect without fear. Whatever time they spend connected, from now on they will pay less," according to Bruno Koné, the company's D-G. This follows from the launch of ADSL Extra Large on 24 August. This service is currently available in the capital Abidjan but this month will become available in San Pédro et Yamoussoukro. In a usual uncompetitive twist, Koné said that this new service was incompatible with the service provided by Fidelis de Côte d'Ivoire, no doubt seeking to put off potential consumers from any offer that company might make.

Not far from scenes of war and conflict, which arise from the civil unrest that currently divides Côte d’Ivoire, children in Abobo primary school in the capital city of Abidjan are learning about peace. Pupils in a class taught by Florence Abo Kossia have just written words of peace on their slates. ‘Forgiveness’, ‘reconciliation’, and ‘peace’ are just a few. The pupils eagerly await their teacher’s approval.

After more than two years of intermittent conflict that effectively split Côte d’Ivoire in half and sparked fears of ethnic cleansing, the country’s 500,000 IDPs may finally have a glimmer of hope for a more peaceful future. However, serious causes for concern remain. Ethnic tensions in the polarised country are acute. Gross human rights violations against civilians, including IDPs, continue to be reported in both government and rebel-controlled areas.

With 24 hours to go before the UN Security Council meets to discuss peacekeeping needs in Cote d'Ivoire, a human rights group said that more troops needed to be urgently sent into the divided country, which is shuffling along the path to peace. In a report published on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch called for an immediate reinforcement of the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI), warning that if the fragile peace process breaks down, "attacks against civilians could set off a sudden spiral of human rights abuses that would be difficult to control".

An exchange of insults between two children of different ethnic groups mushroomed two days later into full-scale fighting between neighbours in this large village in the no-man's land between government and rebel lines in Cote d'Ivoire. Houses were burned, cattle were killed, several people received machete wounds and 1,000 members of the minority Dioula community in Boli last month trekked out to seek shelter in the rebel sector.

The University of Bouake in the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire is set to reopen next month almost three years after the outbreak of war forced it to close it doors and deprived thousands of youngsters of a chance of higher education, government and rebel officials said. Dozens of new students lined up at the campus on Wednesday to enrol for the first academic year since the start of the civil war in September 2002.

The incumbent will mentor 4 or 5 of the independent newspapers in Cote d'Ivoire that are committed to improving editorial balance. S/he will work with owners and managers to understand the importance of balanced news and the impact of credible editorial content on advertising revenue and readership levels. Fluency in French is required.

Wednesday is the day the United Nations Security Council threatened to impose a second wave of sanctions on anyone obstructing Cote d'Ivoire's peace process. But will the travel bans and asset freezes be forthcoming?Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali, the Security Council president for December, seemed to hint on Monday that the UN might wait and give a recent peace drive by South African President Thabo Mbeki time to bear fruit.