Ivory Coast's new leader Alassane Ouattara has made his first visit to the presidential palace, exactly five months since his runoff election against the incumbent tipped the country into crisis.
Ouattara has been holed up in a hotel since the November 28 election which Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept he had lost. He was only eventually forced from power when he was captured at the end of a siege on April 11.
As he finally stepped foot in the palace in the country's main city of Abidjan, the new president said he would take oath of office next month in the official capital of Yamoussoukrou.
Ouattara is still trying to assert his authority in what remains a deeply divided country and his tour of the palace came a day after his forces killed a militia leader in Abidjan.
"It is clear that the palace still needs a lot of repair. We will ensure that, because we want to resume work as soon as possible," he told reporters.
"There is a lot of destruction which is regrettable. I saw looted offices and looted safes, a lot of regrettable things."
The presidential palace is in Abidjan's Plateau business district, the scene of the worst fighting between Ouattara's forces and pro-Gbagbo fighters earlier this month during the offensive to remove the defiant leader.
After taking refuge in an underground bunker in his residence, Gbagbo was finally captured by Ouattara's forces after the United Nations and French troops bombarded the building.
UN renews sanctions for one year
The UN Security Council has renewed an arms and diamond sales embargo on Ivory Coast for one year to maintain pressure on the new government to embark on a peace process and organize parliamentary elections.
More than 1,000 people are said to have died in clashes between the backers of Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo and ethnic massacres carried out by either side. The UN says armed militias are still staging attacks in the west of the country.
But the country's UN ambassador said a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission would be set up within weeks as Ouattara recognized that reconciliation between his followers and the Gbagbo camp remained his "most significant challenge."
Ivory Coast sanctions have traditionally been extended for six months. But diplomats said the one-year extension this time was to encourage and maintain pressure on Outtara.
UN Security Council resolution 1980 said the sanctions could be reviewed before 12 months depending on "progress achieved in the stabilization throughout the country, the holding of the parliamentary elections and the implementation of the key steps of the peace process."
The resolution kept up a travel ban and assets freeze against Gbabgo and his entourage and warned that the Council was ready to impose new measures against anyone who threatens the peace in Ivory Coast.
