UNOCI

United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire

United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire
Abbreviation	ONUCI
Formation	4 April 2004
Type	Peacekeeping mission
Legal status	Active
Head	Bert Koenders
Parent organization	United Nations Security Council
Website	http://www.onuci.org/

The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (French: Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d'Ivoire, ONUCI) is a peacekeeping mission whose objective is "to facilitate the implementation by the Ivorian parties of the peace agreement signed by them in January 2003" (which aimed to end the Ivorian Civil War). The two main Ivorian parties here are the Ivorian Government forces who control the south of the country, and the New Forces (former rebels), who control the north. The UNOCI mission aims to control a "zone of confidence" across the centre of the country separating the two parties. The Head of Mission and Special Representative of the Secretary-General is Aïchatou Mindaoudou Souleymane from Niger. She has succeeded Bert Koenders from the Netherlands in 2013 who himself succeeded Choi Young-jin from South Korea in 2011.

The mission was authorized by Security Council Resolution 1528 on 27 February 2004 to take over from MINUCI from 4 April 2004. The mandate was subsequently extended several times, including 31 October 2008, 31 January 2010, 27 May 2010, 20 December 2010, and most recently on 27 July 2011.

In February 2006, following an appeal by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations Security Council agreed to strengthen the ONUCI forces by sending a battalion from United Nations Mission in Liberia with 800-soldiers to Ivory Coast. As of November 2006, the mission consisted of about 8,000 uniformed soldiers from a total of 41 countries. They have included, from the Bangladeshi Army, 56th and 57th Battalions, East Bengal Regiment. They were deployed alongside 4,000 French soldiers of the Operation Licorne intervention.