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


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United States Embassy (Abidjan)

PRESS RELEASE
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008

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

A daily close to the ruling FPI party today briefly reported on the just-ended visit of an American Congressional Delegation to Cote d'Ivoire. Reports also said that the FPI party and the New Forces are engaged in a war of words following a demand by the CNRD -- a coalition of parties and movements supportive of President Gbagbo - for the resignation of Guillaume Soro as leader of the New Forces. The controversy over the date of the Ivorian presidential elections was also a subject of prominent news stories in the today's Ivorian papers.

1. With a picture of an American Congressional Delegation meeting with the Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, Notre Voie (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) reported that the discussions focused on "the peace process underway [in this West African country] as part of the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement." The paper quoted US Ambassador Wanda L. Nesbitt, who accompanied the delegation to the meeting, as saying: "The delegation is in the country to see the situation on the ground and, as friends of Cote d'Ivoire, to see how they can support the peace process."

2. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily): In a front-page item, the paper quoted the spokesperson of the New Forces as saying that "Soro will remain the leader of the New Forces." The resignation of the Prime Minister from his position as the leader of the New Forces "is not the order of the day. Mr. Guillaume Soro will remain leader of the New Forces until the end of the peace process, and the New Forces will remain New Forces until the end of the said process," Konate was reported as saying.

3. According to Fraternite Matin, Sidiki Konate reacted "vehemently" to the CNRD's wish for the Prime Minister "to resign from his position as Secretary General of the New Forces." The position of the Prime Minister as leader of the New Forces "does not suffer any incongruity ... because [Guillaume Soro] signed the Ouagadougou Political Agreement as the Secretary General of the New Forces and he is holding the position of Prime Minister as the leader of the New Forces." The paper further quoted Konate as calling CNRD's demand "a political diversion."

4. A banner headline that ran across Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA party) said that the demand by the CNRD calling for Soro's resignation from his position as leader of the New Forces has triggered "tension" between Gbagbo's camp and Soro's followers. The paper went on to quote the spokesperson of the New Forces as saying that CNRD's motivation was "politically calculated." It then ran a commentary entitled: "Old devils are back;" where it explained that "this scenario is not new, because it is the same tactics that the ruling party used to kick Soro's predecessors out of the Primature [the office of the Prime Minister]." Meanwhile, the paper noted that "Soro is controlling a part of the Ivorian territory, and he has an army." Against this background, it wondered whether "these political ruses can work this time around."

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Côte d'Ivoire
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5. Regarding the controversy over the date of the Ivorian upcoming elections, Fraternite Matin published a long interview with Djibril Bassole, the Burkinabe Foreign Affairs Minister and negotiator in the Ivorian peace process. The paper quoted Bassole as saying that "the elections will take place this year." Bassole reported the paper also called on the Ivorian political stakeholders to step up efforts in order to attain this objective.

6. L'inter (a privately-owned daily) carried the same interview saying that Djibril Bassole has clarified the situation. The paper quoted the Burkinabe diplomat as saying that "disarmament will be completed before the elections and that SAGEM [a French group in charge of the identification process for Cote d'Ivoire] and the National Statistics Institute (INS) will work together to ensure that voter's registration and the identification process are acceptable to all parties."

7. Meanwhile, an Ivorian Catholic Cleric called upon the political leaders in Cote d'Ivoire to stop using "the media to monger war," reported Fraternite Matin. According to the paper, Archbishop Marie-Daniel Dadiet, who was speaking during Easter festivities, exhorted potential candidates in the upcoming presidential elections "to accept the verdict and prove that they support democracy."


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