United States Embassy (Abidjan)
13 September 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. Today's Ivoirian press is again preoccupied by doctors' strike and the high cost of living in the country. Newspapers also say that the identification program, designed to issue national identity card to Ivoirians, is due to kick off on September 25.
2. A banner headline in Nord-Sud Quotidien, a daily close to the opposition, announces that, "The public hearings are set to begin in 12 days as from today." "The announcement was made yesterday by the Justice and Human Rights Minister, Kone Mamadou," reports the paper.
3. Speaking after a meeting with the Prime Minister, Soro Guillaume, the paper quotes Kone as saying, "The working group overseeing the identification process has fixed the date of September 25 for the beginning of the program."
4. Boureima Badini Special Representative of President Blaise Compaore - facilitator in the Ivoirian peace process - is also reported as saying, "The identification process is the key to the success." Speaking after a courtesy call on Soro, Boureima said: "If all measures are taken to ensuring the success of the identification scheme, you'll see that things will move smoothly."
5. As the identification scheme is officially planned to commence on September 25, Le Front, a daily close to the New Forces, tells readers "what the law of the land provides regarding the re-constitution of destroyed birth registers."
6. The paper comments, "The identity problem is the principal reason of the crisis that Cote d'Ivoire is facing... Therefore, the identification process constitutes a hope for those who have either lost their identity documents or had their birth register destroyed or disappeared."
7. On the importance of the upcoming identification scheme, the state-owned daily, Fraternite Matin, suggests that, "The public hearings constitute the key of the electoral process."
8. A front-page story carried by the paper says, "President Laurent Gbagbo will address the UN General Assembly due to be held in New York, at the end of this month." According to the paper, "The subject and other issues relating to the ongoing peace process in Cote d'Ivoire were atop of a meeting between Gbagbo and French Ambassador Andre Janier yesterday."
9. The major news, however on the front-page of the paper, is government's decision "to freeze up the price of some food products - including rice, milk and oil." "In a bid to curb the recent hike in the price of these foodstuffs, the government decided to suspend the Valued Added Tax on these products." The aim of the move, indicates the paper, is "to stabilize the costs of the food products and to scale down inflation, which must not exceed 3 per cent."
10. While the Ivoirian government is pushing hard to assuage the social tension in this West African country, Le Jour Plus, a daily close to the opposition, carries pictures depicting "an atmosphere of sadness" in the government's hospitals. According to the paper, the nationwide strike called by doctors and health workers has plunged the country into "a catastrophe." According to the paper, the movement is "a big challenge of the Ivoirian premier."
11. Still on the increasing wave of the social tension in Cote d'Ivoire, the privately-owned L'inter comments, "The three pillars of Gbagbo's regime are in dire straits." According to the paper, "After doctors, teachers could launch an indefinite strike to press for better working conditions."
12. Telling readers, the main reason behind "the growing anger from soldiers, consumers, doctors...," the privately-owned, L'intelligent d'Abidjan says, "The honey moon that Gbagbo and Soro have been enjoying since the signing of the Ouagadougou Agreement is over."
13. The paper goes on, "The two leaders, who thought that they had found the panacea for the Ivoirian crisis has become disillusioned." "Many Ivoirians believe that the nomination of Soro is not the solution to the Ivoirian crisis, because the September 19's events, which had brought to the fore Soro, are the main cause of the ongoing impoverishment in the country."
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