United States Embassy (Abidjan)
26 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. The Ivoirian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, is in the limelight, as reports say he is set to address the UN General Assembly in New York today. At home, the audiences foraines (public identity hearings designed to issue birth certificates to residents without identity documents), which kicked off yesterday, spark mixed reactions in the Ivoirian dailies.
2. A banner headline carried by the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin, says "Gbagbo, who is attending the 62nd UN General Assembly, is set to address the world today." The paper indicates that Gbagbo's speech has virtually become "a much-awaited event," as the Ivoirian leader is enjoying now "a honeymoon," while Cote d'Ivoire has recovered "its full sovereignty, and has become one and an indivisible state."
3. According to the paper, "Gbagbo will use this opportunity to make some proposals - including the reinforcement of the UN's institutions on environmental issues." Gbagbo may also call for "a real trade liberation," reports the paper. Finally, the Ivoirian leader could also speak about the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire.
4. While, President Bush, who was addressing yesterday the UN General Assembly, vowed "to protect Human Rights all over the world," reports Fraternite Matin, his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy called for "more justice and freedom in the world."
5. On his part, the African Union Chairman, Alpha Omar Konare, reports Fraternite Matin, insisted "for the suppression of the military bases in Africa," because "the continent has the capacity to resolve its own crisis," the paper quotes South African President Thabo Mbeki as saying.
6. A day after the resumption of the public identity hearings program, Fraternite Matin expresses "optimism."
7. Meanwhile, a banner headline in Nord-Sud Quotidien, a daily close to the opposition, says, "The 'sans-papiers' of Gbagbo and Soro have been identified." The political cartoonist of the paper shows a picture of Soro driving an armored car with a caption reading, "Soro's machinery is on the moving."
8. As the public identity hearings began "symbolically" yesterday in Ouaragahio and Ferkessedougou, respectively the villages of Gbagbo and Soro, Le Nouveau Reveil, a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA party, says, "Gbagbo and Soro serves their parents first."
9. A front-page story in Notre Voie, a daily close to the ruling FPI party, says, "Leaders of the FPI party met with the Army Chief of Staff yesterday to express their concern over the security issue during the public identity hearings program."
10. The paper quotes the Chairman of the party, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, saying, "We want to ensure that all measures have been taken to guarantee security of the civilians and government officials, who have been deployed throughout the country as part of the exercise."
11. A front-page story in Le Jour Plus, a daily close to the opposition, says, the mayors, who were meeting yesterday in Abidjan, threatened "to boycott the public identity hearings."
12. The spokesperson of the mayors is quoted by Le Jour Plus as saying, "We want to draw the attention of the government... on the fact that the marginalization of mayors could hamper the public identity hearings program, because we play a key role in births' registration."
13. Regarding the financing of the peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire, Le Front, a daily close to the New Forces, suggests that "the World Bank is blackmailing." Citing insiders, the paper alleges that, "The bank's officials in Cote d'Ivoire are demanding that people, who are in-charge of the National Program for Reinsertion and Community Rehabilitation, should be replaced."
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