allAfrica.com: Côte d'Ivoire: American Embassy's National Daily Press Review (Page 1 of 1)

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, please contact: Mr. Teko Folli in the Public Affairs Press Office, TekoFX@state.gov.

Reports in Thursday's Ivorian newspapers said that the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire was a prominent issue at the UN Security Council meeting, where the Ivorian leader President Laurent Gbagbo gave an address, yesterday. The arms embargo imposed on Cote d'Ivoire by the UN Security Council in 2004, as well as investment plans for Cote d'Ivoire by French businessmen are the other top stories in today's dailies.

1. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily): The paper carried a prominent headline on its front page quoting Gbagbo as telling the UN Security Council that "The November 30 deadline will be respected." The paper published the full text of Gbagbo's speech in which he reassured the Security Council saying that "The crisis in Cote d'Ivoire is being solved." Excerpts of the address said, "All the key players in the electoral process - the government, Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), National Statistics Institute, SAGEM (the French group tasked to conduct the identification of the Ivorian population) are working hard. The November 30 deadline will be respected. The crisis in Cote d'Ivoire is getting to the end. This allows us to appreciate, not only the role being played by the United Nations and by the African Union, but also the efficiency of their collaboration in conflict resolution."

2. L'inter (a privately-owned daily): The paper shared its speculations on what it called "the three motives behind Gbagbo's visit to the United Nations." The first one, the paper said, is "to demonstrate to the international community that he [Gbagbo] has no intention to maintain his grip on the power or to postpone indefinitely the upcoming elections," whose date has been set for November 30, 2008. The paper said that the second motive is that because the peace process under way in Cote d'Ivoire is constrained by financial problems, "Gbagbo will be using the opportunity offered by this meeting to ask international donors - who are still reluctant to keep their promises - to provide the money needed for the completion of the peace process." The third motive for Gbagbo's presence in the Security Council is "to convince the world body to lift the arms embargo imposed on Cote d'Ivoire by the UN Security Council since 2004."

3. Meanwhile, Notre Voie (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) carried a prominent story saying that "The lifting of the arms embargo has been compromised." Citing an unnamed source close to the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI), the paper said that "The decision to lift or not to lift this embargo has been deferred to June this year." Notre Voie is in concurrence with L'inter's speculation that "the Ivorian leader is using his meeting with the Security Council to influence the Council's decision, even though many, including UNOCI officials, believe that lifting the sanctions is premature." To buttress this speculation, the paper quoted an unnamed source at UNOCI as saying that "Even if the normalization of the socio-political situation has become evident, it is premature to lift the embargo." According to the paper, this source further said, "How the embargo can be lifted when the question of the disarmament has not yet been solved? The New Forces are still holding their arms in the north and the militias (self-defense groups) are not yet dismantled. We cannot, in this condition, allow one party to the conflict to be re-armed."

4. In a related development, Fraternite Matin reported that the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire, in its recent report, "deplored the refusal by the Ivorian authorities to allow the inspection of facilities that fall under the control of the Republican Guard." The paper said that the UN's Group of Experts, which reports to the UN Security Council stated that the refusal of the Republican Guard to allow their facilities to be inspected had "seriously compromised surveillance." The report further said that "both the Defence Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FDS-CI) and the Forces Nouvelles had separately engaged in trainings with military characteristics in other State members in violation of the embargo."

5. Finally, on economic issues, Fraternite Matin reported that French businessmen are waiting to see "the aftermath of the forthcoming elections to decide on whether they should come back or not to Cote d'Ivoire." According to the paper, this was announced yesterday by "Action pour la France," an NGO that is working for the return of the French economic operators who "left the country because of the war."

Media Coverage of Embassy's Activities

L'intelligent d'Abidjan (a privately-owned daily): The paper reported that the U.S. Embassy in Cote d'Ivoire has launched "Radio Diaries", a new concept aimed at combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. According to the paper, the program was presented for the first time yesterday as journalists from proximity radios gathered at the U.S. Embassy for two-day training. The positive report also highlighted that the training was organized with the support of the PEPFAR (the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

In April 16 edition, Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to the opposition) reported that the U.S. government has found a new method aimed at helping people living with HIV virus. Dubbed "Radio Diaries," the method consists of using the radio to tell the story about the daily life of people living with the HIV virus, the paper reported.

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