This daily press review is compiled by the Information Section of the Public Affairs Office of the American Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. For questions regarding this service.

1. For the first time, the Ivoirian President Laurent Gbagbo reacted to the UN Security Council's recent Resolution in which it maintained sanctions imposed on Cote d'Ivoire since 2004 for another year and expressed deep concern over the delay in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Agreement. Meanwhile Gbagbo's plan to abolish the issuance of the residence permit required to foreigners living on the Ivoirian soil continues to be subject of front-page story.

2. The controversy over Gbagbo's plan to abolish the residence permit is the major news today on the front-page of Le Patriote, a daily close to the opposition RDR party of Alassane Dramane Ouattara. Calling Gbagbo a "xenophobic", the paper alleges that under the regime of the Ivoirian president, "Foreigners were killed, and 150,000 Burkinabe were chased out of the country in 2003."

3. Telling readers what it calls "the history of the issuance of residence permit," in Cote d'Ivoire, Le Patriote says, "This official document was introduced as part of a Structural Adjustment Program imposed to Cote d'Ivoire by the Breton Woods Institutions in 1990." During this period, the paper goes on, "The country was bankrupt and prices of raw materials on the world market dropped drastically."

4. In a bid to reverse the situation, certain measures were taken by the then government led by Prime Minister, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, indicates Le Patriote. One of these measures, it says, was the introduction of the residence permit for foreigners living in Cote d'Ivoire and a green identity card for the nationals. "These decisions, which were unpopular at the beginning, however enabled the government the save the situation and get support from international donors," notes the paper. Dubbed "Alassane Dramane Ouattara's plan," the paper continues, "These measures helped Cote d'Ivoire to prepare for the devaluation of the Francs CFA in 1994." To conclude, Le Patriote states that "the problems associated with the issuance of the residence permit for foreigners were caused by those who were responsible for the execution of the program and not by Ouattara."

5. In another development, President Gbagbo is quoted by the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin a saying: "The audiences foraines (public identity hearings designed to provide identity documents to nationals of Cote d'Ivoire) is not pulling crowd because people who are 30 years old in Cote d'Ivoire represent 70 percent. The youths whose age is 30 were registered, and therefore it's obvious that there is rush for the public identity hearings."

6. Reacting to the United Nations "deep concerns" about the slow pace in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Agreement, Fraternite Matin quotes Gbagbo as saying: "We're doing the right thing." According to the Ivoirian leader the United Nations is wrong to say that all that has been done so far as part of the Ouagadougou Agreement is just "symbolic." "The fact that the president traveled to Bouake [New Forces' stronghold] is not a symbolic action. The fact that about 2,000 or 3,000 weapons were collected and burnt down is not a symbolic action. The fact that people move freely from Burkina Faso's border to Abidjan... is not a symbolic action." Gbagbo is quoted as saying.

7. According to the privately-owned daily Soir Info, "African Francophone mediators held talks with the Ivoirian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro yesterday." The peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire was high on the agenda. The paper quotes the spokesperson of the mediators as saying, "Both the premier and the president of the Republic are committed to push forward the process in order to restore peace to Cote d'Ivoire."