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


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United States Embassy (Abidjan)

20 November 2007
Posted to the web 20 November 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. Ivoirian press continues to report on the November 10-11 visit to Cote d'Ivoire of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. The meeting of the Assessment and Support Committee (CEA) -- a body whose role is to oversee the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement - is the other major issue in today's papers.

2. 24 Heures (a daily close to the opposition): The paper publishes a news analysis on the November 10-11's visit to Cote d'Ivoire of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. The item is culled from Jeune Afrique, French weekly, which in its November 18-24 edition tried to uncover "the motives" of the recent visit of Ambassador Negroponte to West Africa.

3. After summarizing the Deputy Secretary's meetings in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper reported that the Deputy Secretary "left a message for his hosts: There is a need to quickly implement the Ouagadougou Political Agreement... Now is the time to make real progress on the critical issues of identification, elections planning, and disarmament."

4. According to 24 Heures, the Deputy Secretary of State was also using this visit "to identify those who are responsible for delaying the peace process." It quotes the Deputy Secretary as saying after a meeting in Ouagadougou with Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, "Very soon, we'll know who is blocking things in Cote d'Ivoire."

5. "Obviously," comments 24 Heures in the same article, the Deputy Secretary did not travel to Ouagadougou only to talk about Cote d'Ivoire. "He also discussed the second agenda of his tour, the most important one: The war against terrorism and the future of the 'famous' Africa Command (Africom)," comments the paper. It then suggests that the Deputy Secretary "is aware that his African hosts are very suspicious about this project..."

6. The second item in today's local press regarding the visit to the West African region of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is a report in Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to the opposition) on his address at the Community of Democracies Ministerial Forum held in Bamako, Mali on November 15-17. The paper carries a front-page headline reading, "The United States calls on the international community to support Gbagbo and his Prime Minister." Nord-Sud Quotidien quotes the Deputy Secretary as saying, "As part of our activities in support of democracy, we are mindful of the difficulties. There are no shortcuts. I'm coming from Cote d'Ivoire, where once warring factions have agreed to a road map, that, if implemented, will return their country to democracy."

7. Nord-Sud Quotidien also publishes the full text of a report commissioned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire. According to the report, "Some progress has been made in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement... However there is a need to step up efforts in order to hold the public identity hearings and establish a voters' register at this critical and delicate stage of the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement." The document indicates that "The government of Prime Minister Guillaume Soro needs to be encouraged."

Relevant Links

West Africa
Côte d'Ivoire

8. A banner headline that runs across Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily) says the Ivoirian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro is expected in Ouagadougou today to take part in the 4th meeting of the committee overseeing the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement. According to the paper, the meeting plans to adopt a new calendar, which is designed to accelerate the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire.


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