UN votes to wrap up Ivory Coast peacekeeping mission in 2017

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to wrap up its 12-year peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast next year.

The vote is a sign of confidence in the West African nation's progress toward peace after years of political turmoil and thousands of deaths.

A resolution adopted Thursday by the U.N.'s most powerful body calls for all U.N. peacekeepers and international police to leave Ivory Coast by April 30, 2017 and for the mission to officially end on June 30, 2017.

It had about 4,650 troops and nearly 1,400 police at the end of February.

The Security Council resolution welcomed "the remarkable progress by Ivory Coast to achieve lasting peace and stability, as well as economic prosperity."

France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre called the U.N. mission "a success story."