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Côte d'Ivoire: American Embassy's National Daily Press Review


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United States Embassy (Abidjan)

28 September 2007
Posted to the web 1 October 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. Two Ivoirian leaders are in the spotlight in today's press. The first one is President Laurent Gbagbo, who returned back home yesterday from New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly. The second one is the Ivoirian opposition figure, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, who addressed a mammoth rally yesterday in Abidjan, in the run-up of the forthcoming election in Cote d'Ivoire.

2. With a picture of Ouattara, who was addressing "a mammoth rally" in Abidjan yesterday, Nord-Sud Quotidien, a daily close to the opposition, carries a banner headline reading, "ADO [Alassane Dramane Ouattara] defies Gbagbo."

3. According to the paper, "The president of the opposition RDR party cried for victims," denouncing what he called, "The violence and barbaric acts committed against supporters of the RDR party." He is also quoted as telling Gbagbo: "You can't win the elections." To finish the report, the paper devotes two pages to publish colorful pictures of the political gathering.

4. "The president joins his people," writes Le Patriote, a daily close to RDR party. On Ouattara's ambition to become the next president in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper quotes him as saying, "Nothing! Nothing can stop me." The paper also comments, "The huge turnout" at yesterday's rally shows that "Ouattara's popularity did not diminish."

5. "In 2008, I'll be elected President of the Republic," the state-owned daily, Fraternite Matin, quotes the Ivoirian opposition leader as telling supporters. The paper, which devotes two pages to the event, says, "It was a feverish rally, which went on peacefully."

6. According to the paper, Ouattara used this meeting to encourage his supporters to take part "massively" in the public identity hearings underway in the country. Ouattara, reports the paper, also told the gathering that, "The public identity hearings will be followed by the identification program and the registration of voters."

7. While Le Nouveau Reveil, a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA, calls Ouattara's rally "an impressive mobilization," Le Matin d'Abidjan, a daily close to Gbagbo, tells a different story. It accuses the Ivoirian opposition figure of "waging an ethnic and religious war."

8. "ADO looses control over the north and insults everybody," writes Le Temps, another daily close to Gbagbo. According to the paper, Ouattara's declaration yesterday during the rally was full of "contradiction." It also believes that, yesterday's meeting marked "the end of an alliance between the RDR and the PDCI-RDA, the party of Ivoirian ex-president Henri Konan Bedie."

9. In the front-page story, L'intelligent d'Abidjan, a privately-owned daily, quotes a leading political figure who criticizes Ouattara. Mamadou Ben Soumahoro is quoted as saying, "Not only Ouattara betrays himself, but he also betrays everybody."

10. "Gbagbo is back," reads a front-page story in Le Temps. According to the paper, the Ivoirian President Laurent Gbagbo returned home yesterday after attending the United Nations General Assembly. Gbagbo, speaking to reporters, is quoted as saying, "Our peace plan has become a lesson."

11. According to Fraternite Matin, Gbagbo was welcome yesterday by the Ivoirian Prime Minister, Soro Guillaume. Regarding the peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper quotes Gbagbo as saying, "It was important to tell the United Nations General Assembly about the sufferings that Cote d'Ivoire is going through but and also the hopes that we cherish."

12. Regarding the upcoming elections, 24 Heures, a daily close to the opposition, quotes the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Robert Beugre Mambe, as saying "We're committed to organize clean elections." The electoral commissioner, who was speaking yesterday, however admitted that, "The task ahead won't be easy," reports the paper.

Relevant Links

West Africa
Côte d'Ivoire
Press and Media

13. Meanwhile, 24 Heures reports that, "Prime Minister Soro Guillaume has instructed the Justice and Human Rights Minister to speed up the deployment of the teams tasked to conduct the public identity hearings." The objective, the paper quotes the spokesperson of the premier, is "to provide all the necessary means to the 25 first teams to become fully operational."


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