United States Embassy (Abidjan)
20 August 2007
This daily press review is compiled by the Information Section of the Public Affairs Office of the American Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
1. A year after a vessel chartered by the Dutch-based company Trafigura dumped tons of toxic waste in Abidjan; the scandal again makes front-page stories today. Experts are expected in Abidjan for the second time to help clean up the waste. The peace process and upcoming elections also make headlines in the dailies.
2. The Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, speaking over the weekend in Ferkessedougou (northern Cote d'Ivoire), is quoted by Le Nouveau Reveil as calling for "no more rigged elections in this country." According to the paper, which is close to the ex-ruling PDCI-RDA party, Soro used this first visit to his hometown since being nominated as head of the transitional government to speak on various issues, including the forthcoming elections and the national identification program. He reported that voter registration should begin "by next month."
3. "Soro invited commanders of the New Forces' Armed Forces not to see prefects and mayors as enemies," reports the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin. According to the paper, the Ivorian Prime Minister, during a rally organized in Ferkessedougou, exhorted his close collaborators "to help implement the Ouagadougou Agreement, and create an environment conducive to mutual understanding and friendliness, enabling the organization of the elections."
4. In a separate development, Fraternite Matin devotes its front-page to the rocket attack that hit Soro's plane last June in New Forces' stronghold, Bouake. While the conspirators have not yet been uncovered, President Laurent Gbagbo assured that he and Soro "are thinking of the same people."
5. In a front-page story, Le Patriote, a daily close to the opposition RDR party, tries to shed light on the attack that hit the presidential jet carrying the Ivorian prime minister. The paper explains how the "UN's cumbersome bureaucracy is delaying investigations into the matter."
6. With a picture of Gbagbo on its front-page, L'inter, a privately-owned daily, suggests that the Ivorian leader succeeded in "assuaging the crisis" between the military and the government. The paper, which calls last Tuesday's meeting between Gbagbo and soldiers "a power struggle", goes on: "In the face of angry soldiers, who thronged the forecourt of the Presidential Palace, Gbagbo stood firm."
7. Meanwhile, the paper warns that the anger in the barracks "is not yet over." It then wonders, "How far could the discontent soldiers go?" The paper comments, "Up to now the soldiers are expressing their fury peacefully... but one should fear a situation where such movements could lead to a change of regime, like that of Bedie [former Ivorian president ousted after a coup d'etat in December 1999]."
8. L'inter also informs readers that, "American experts are expected in Abidjan to clean up other sites," polluted as a result of the dumping of the toxic waste a year ago in the city.
9. In a front-page story, 24 Heures, a daily close to the opposition, explains that the arrival of toxic waste experts for the second time is part of a protocol of agreement signed between the Ivorian authorities and representatives of Trafigura, the Dutch-based company that chartered the vessel which dumped the waste in Abidjan.
10. Regarding the compensation of victims of the toxic waste scandal, Nord-Sud Quotidien, a daily close to the opposition, citing sources close to the Ivorian Treasury Department, discloses that, "Out of 95,227 victims, only 29,441 victims had, as of Friday, received 6.51 million CFA francs (12.3 million dollars)."
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