Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the political situation and stability in Ivory Coast since the end of the civil war there in 2011.

There has been significant progress in stabilising Ivory Coast since the post-electoral crisis of 2010/11, but more needs to be done. Much depends on further reconciliation between the government and opposition, as well as the elections in October 2015, which must be free and fair. We, therefore, welcome the inauguration of the Independent Electoral Commission on 30 August, and the resumption of opposition participation in that Commission in November.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) raised these issues with Ivorian Foreign Minister Diby at the UN General Assembly in September, as well as with the Ivorian Minister for Industry and Mines on 2 December 2014.