UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (UPI) -- Troops from the Economic Community of West African States donned blue hats Monday to signify joining the U.N. mission in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a message to the cermony in Abidjan urging reconciliation among all parties.
He said the world organization had gone to the aid of Ivorians, "not to impose or enforce peace, but to help them maintain it."
The secretary-general appealed to "the Ivorian parties to reject all forms of violence and take advantage of the window of opportunity provided by the U.N. peacekeeping presence to re-engage in political dialogue aimed at genuine reconciliation for the benefit of all Ivorians."
Annan's Special Representative Albert Tevoedjre read the message in which the secretary-general urged Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo to submit to the National Assembly draft laws required by the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis (France) peace agreement.
