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United States Embassy (Abidjan)

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

31 March 2008

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

Today's reports in Ivorian newspapers are dominated by a political rally held by the ex-Ivorian President and leader of the former ruling PDCI-RDA party, Henri Konan Bedie, in Abidjan over weekend and the visit of the French former Culture Minister, Jack Lang to Cote d'Ivoire.

1. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily): "Peace process, Ouagadougou Political Agreement: Bedie criticizes Gbagbo and Soro," said a front-page story carried by the paper. According to the daily, Bedie, who was speaking over the week at a rally in Abidjan, denounced what he called President Laurent Gbagbo and the Prime Minister Soro Guillaume's "ambiguous interests" that are holding back the Ivorian peace process. "The people have to press Gbagbo for elections... He cannot elude the constitutional obligation to consult the people, who he [Gbagbo] said voted him into power," the paper quoted the Ivorian former President as saying.

2. Commenting on President Gbagbo and his First Lady's recent tours of cities inside Cote d'Ivoire, Bedie called them "partisan propaganda," which he said, are organized with "the state's assets," and during which "he [Gbagbo] made promises in order to get favors from people who do not believe in him anymore," reported Fraternite Matin. According to the paper, Bedie, who was addressing "thousands of supporters," exhorted them "to rally" behind him in order "to thwart any plan from people who think that they can suppress people's freedoms and take the whole country hostage."

3. While Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA) called Saturday's political gathering organized by the former Ivorian President "a mammoth rally," Le Temps (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) suggested that the meeting was "a fiasco." Le Temps further allegedly reported that during the gathering, Bedie called for "uprising."

4. L'inter (a privately-owned daily): "Bedie attacks Gbagbo and Soro," said a prominent headline on the front page of the paper. Regarding the forthcoming presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper went on to quote Bedie as saying, "We will never accept any rigging or any electoral hold-up." According to the paper, Bedie called on the international community "to help Ivorians liberate the country from a regime whose term in office has been extended without the people's consent."

5. In the wake of the French former Culture Minister, Jack Lang's visit to Cote d'Ivoire, Notre Voie (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) suggested that the French Socialist party has now come back to Cote d'Ivoire to "apologize" to Gbagbo. Commenting recent relationship between the French Socialist party and the Ivoirian President, the paper reported that "Jack Lang has recognized that they [the French Socialist party] were victims of manipulations." "Gbagbo was not treated as a comrade of the socialist movement due to misunderstanding, incomprehension, and ignorance," the French former Culture Minister was quoted as saying.

6. "Jack Lang exhorts the French nationals to return to Cote d'Ivoire," wrote Fraternite Matin. "Come to Cote d'Ivoire, come and invest. It's a hospitable country," the paper quoted the French former Culture Minister as saying.

7. Reporting also on the French former Culture Minister, Jack Lang's visit to Cote d'Ivoire, Soir Info (a privately-owned daily) said that France is to help Cote d'Ivoire resolve the political crisis in this West African country. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with President Gbagbo, Jack Lang was quoted as saying: "We have talked about the organization of the coming polls. I think that all Ivorian stakeholders, irrespective of their political obedience, want the people of Cote d'Ivoire to choose their leader through election."

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