United States Embassy (Abidjan)
8 April 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.
The relationship between Cote d'Ivoire and the International Monetary Fund; the decision by the Ivorian authorities to cancel customs tax in an attempt to reduce the high cost of living in the country; the plan by the government to regulate revenue collections throughout the country; and the latest development on the peace process underway in Cote d'Ivoire are the major stories in today's Ivorian newspapers.
1. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily): The paper carried a banner headline announcing "the normalization of the relations between Cote d'Ivoire and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," which, it said, "has granted Cote d'Ivoire $ 66.2 million USD in the form of post-conflict emergency assistance." According to the paper, the announcement was made yesterday by the Country Director of IMF, Egoume B. Philippe. According to the paper, "This emergency post-conflict assistance is meant to help the strengthening of the administrative and institutional capacities required to support an economic revival and a greater level of economic assistance."
2. Fraternite Matin further explained that the resumption of these financial assistances by the international institutions owes much to the "success" of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement, which allowed "the return of political calm and helped relaunch economic activities in Cote d'Ivoire." However, the paper said, "the IMF's Country Director deplored the fact that revenues collection services are not yet deployed throughout the country."
3. Le Temps (a daily close to the ruling FPI party): Quoting a statement issued by the cabinet of the Prime Minister, the paper carried a front-page story, saying that a government-fact finding mission "is currently visiting regions located in the central, northern and western part of Cote d'Ivoire in order to prepare the ground for the redeployment of custom services."
4. In a front-page item, Notre Voie (a daily close to the ruling FPI) claimed that "the New Forces continue to demanding money from travelers."
5. On the decision by the Ivorian authorities to cancel customs tax in an attempt to reduce the high cost of living in the country, Fraternite Matin carried a prominent story saying: "The prices of food commodities have gone down." The paper quoted a businessman as saying, "while government's decision to cancel custom revenues on basic food commodities are yet to yield the expected resulted, oil and rice traders have decided to reduce the prices of these two commodities."
6. Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the former ruling PDCI-RDA party): The paper carried a banner headline reading "Gbagbo holds back the identification process and the voters' registration." The paper said "the identification process has been delayed because President Laurent Gbagbo has not yet signed the decree defining the roles of SAGEM -- the French group that has been appointed to conduct the identification process -- and the National Statistics Institute." In a separate story, Le Nouveau Reveil commented that "The recent demonstrations against the high cost of living in Cote d'Ivoire have thrown the identification process into oblivion."
7. Le Nouveau Reveil reported that in a bid to ensure that the Ivorian upcoming elections help resolve the political crisis in this West African country, Francis Wodie, the leader of the Ivorian Labor Party (PIT) suggested that "Ivorians should be fully involved in the preparation of the polls." According to the paper, Wodie made the proposal recently when he was speaking during a conference organized by the youth wings of the political parties in Cote d'Ivoire.
8. L'inter (a privately-owned daily): The paper carried a story saying that the Managing Director of the Ivorian national television network rejected recent allegations that "the Presidency has censored the diffusion of footage of the demonstrations on the Ivorian national television network." On April 1, L'inter allegedly reported that "an order was given to the director of the television not to broadcast any report on the demonstrations." According to the paper, the new Managing Director assumed responsibility of this censorship saying that "it was a personal decision."
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