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


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United States Embassy (Abidjan)

25 October 2007
Posted to the web 25 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. The delay in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Agreement continues to be the subject of controversy in the Ivoirian press.

2. The main issue of comments in some Ivoirian papers today is the financial aspect of the Ouagadougou Agreement. A banner headline that runs across 24 Heures, a daily close to the opposition, says that, "The international donors are reluctant to provide the money they promised as part of their contribution to the peace process because they don't trust President Laurent Gbagbo and his Prime Minister Guillaume Soro." According to the paper, donors want to see "concrete actions and dates from Ivoirian authorities before concluding a program to back the peace process."

3. 24 Heures also quotes a source close to the World Bank office in Abidjan as rejecting the accusation of reluctance and saying, "We don't finance symbols. What we've seen so far are just symbols designed to make the atmosphere less strained. We've money to support clear-cut programs and the prime minister is aware of that." The paper also says that other sources close to other financial institutions also reject the accusation that donors are "responsible" for the delay in the disbursement of the money needed to accomplish the Ouagadougou Agreement.

4. A front-page story in L'inter, a privately-owned daily, says, "The United Nations is maneuvering to take control of the Ivoirian dossier." The paper suggests that, "The nomination of a UN Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, and recent rapports of the world body on the situation in this country are signs of the UN's renewed interests in the Ivoirian peace process."

5. According to a front-page story in Le Courrier d'Abidjan, a daily close to Gbagbo, the Special Representative of the facilitator - President Blaise Compaore -- in the Ivoirian peace process, Boureima Badini, called on all political stakeholders and the international community to fully support the Ouagadougou Agreement. Badini, the paper says, was speaking after a meeting yesterday with President Laurent Gbagbo. He is reported as saying, "We've identified all necessary means to speed up the peace process... We'll convince both the national and the international community that we're moving forward... We're satisfied that the public identity hearings are going on smoothly and that we can start thinking about the possibility of launching the identification process."

6. Still on the United Nations Security Council's concerns about the delay in the peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire, Notre Voie, a daily close to the ruling FPI party says: "Badini sets the record straight." According to Badini, "The peace process is not a long-distance race." The Special Representative of the facilitator described the Ouagadougou Agreement as "a full resolution", and called on the international community to help implement it.

7. A report in the Soir Info, a privately-owned daily, says that "the New Forces are sensitizing their troops on the public identity hearings." According to the paper, the program got a slow start in Bouake - the stronghold of the New Forces. Exactly a month today after the public identity hearings got underway, Soir Info says that "the populations are staying away from the program."

8. Soir Info notes that "so far only 9,789 people have been registered out of 3 million, who according to the Ivoirian opposition do not have their identity documents." Still on the number of people to be registered, the presidential camp's projections say they are about "300,000", reports the paper. If things do not change on the ground, explains the paper, "It will be difficult to attain the number of 3 million people the opposition is claiming."

9. On the front page of Le Patriote, a daily close to the opposition RDR party, one of the New Forces' military leaders is quoted as saying, "We want peace. But we want papers first." The paper publishes an interview of Sherif Ousmane who said: "The quest of peace should not let us forget the reason why we are here."

10. In a separate development, the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin publishes pictures of four officials of the cocoa-coffee organizations, who it says, were questioned yesterday by the criminal police. The hearing, reports the paper, was carried out in connection with the investigation into the allegations of corruption in Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa and coffee sectors.

Relevant Links

West Africa
Côte d'Ivoire
Press and Media

11. Fraternite Matin also hints Venance Konan an independent journalist, could be prosecuted for "insulting the Head of State and inciting to revolt."


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