Leadership (Abuja)
12 November 2009
Côte d'Ivoire's independent electoral commission has handed over a provisional voters' list to the top United Nations envoy in the country, a step forward towards holding the much-delayed presidential poll in the West African country, split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-ruled south and a rebel-controlled north.
[ See Article ]
This is a message to Mr. Choi and Susan Rice.... Many of us from that part of Africa know exactly what you guys are facing in that country. This is a country in which many government officials do not respect the rules that they themselves are to protect. The delay of the voters list and other issues now facing the UN was not hidden. I want to believe that the delay in the voters listing was manipulated by the people in charge so that they will be able to profit from the delay.
Now, what kind of profitting that the people in charge will get? 1. They will expect a rush to the pool so that they can pump in people that were not registered to vote. 2. They will beg for additional time for extention of the election so that they will continue exploiting the population. 3. They will benefit if some of those voters cards can not be delivered to other areas in the country because of bad road conditions and timing. 4. They will benefit from the confusion to avoid blame.
Like I said , this is a difficult task and I hope you guys willwork very hard to free the population in that country from their suffering. The election has to take place and you need to use all the resources necessay to bring the parties to the voting boxes. Be prepared to cross any obstacles.