A/56/253 “The chief of the ruling junta responded to the republican appeal to step down honourably, addressed to him by candidate Laurent Gbagbo, by abolishing the Electoral Commission, arresting its Chairman and, even more gravely, by having his own victory announced by Mr. Bamba Cheich Daniel, Director-General of Territorial Administration of the Ministry of the Interior and Decentralization. Flanked by members of the armed forces, Mr. Daniel denounced the shortcomings of the Commission, whose place he himself had just taken. “It was precisely for the purpose of foiling this deception that candidate Laurent Gbagbo, who through his representatives in the polling stations and on the Electoral Commission was apprised, in real time, of the various voting results, issued an impassioned appeal to Ivorian patriots to oppose the chief of the junta, who had just organized a ceremony in the presidential palace, in which he had proclaimed himself President of the Republic. “After being dispersed by the police, which had been deployed in considerable array on 24 October 2000, very early on the following day the Ivorian patriots, coming from every quarter of Abidjan as well as towns in the interior, bare-handedly forced General Robert Guei to step down, some of them paying with their lives. “The Ivorian patriots were just savouring that victory, so dearly yet so proudly won over the military regime, whose rule had been marked by numerous barbaric acts committed against civilian populations, when, to their great surprise, there rang out over foreign radio stations appeals by the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR), calling upon its militants to oppose the victory of candidate Laurent Gbagbo and thereby calling into question the presidential election of 22 October 2000. RDR candidate Alassane D. Ouattara, had not been permitted to stand in the election, pursuant to a ruling handed down by the Supreme Court on 6 October 2000. Yet it should be mentioned that the ruling had not been contested in any way by RDR, with the exception of a call by RDR for a citizens’ boycott of the election of 22 October 2000. “These are specific facts which can be readily verified. Thus it was the appeal made by RDR to contest the victory of the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) candidate and the presidential election that gave rise to the unfortunate events that took place on 25 October 2000 and only on that day, not on 25 and 27 October as mentioned in your letter — events that resulted in human deaths and the profanation of churches, temples and mosques. In other regions, regrettable situations such as this have given rise to long-term conflicts. “In our deeply peace-loving country, in addition to the appeal for calm immediately put out by FPI (Mr. Lida Kouassi Moise) and by RDR (Mr. Amadou Gon Coulibaly), the Head of State decided to organize a Martyrs’ Day, celebrated on 9 November. In addition, he immediately set up, under the chairmanship of the Grand Mediator of the Republic, a Mediation Committee for National Reconciliation, which has begun its task. “It should be pointed out in this connection that the other highly influential group in Ivorian politics, the Parti démocratique de la Côte d’Ivoire/Rassemblement démocratique africain (PDCI/RDA), which, following 57