Ange Aboa Duekoue
17 August 2008
Security in the volatile west of Cote d'Ivoire, the world's biggest cocoa producer, has improved ahead of elections due in November, but local people still fear the hidden presence of armed militiamen.
The polls should complete a peace process after a 2002-2003 civil war split the West African country, and cocoa farmers working in western areas that saw some of the worst fighting are now concentrating on getting the most from the next harvest.
"Everything is going well for the moment, there's no problem with security, killing, or farmers from Burkina Faso and the north of Cote d'Ivoire disappearing like there was two years ago.
"Then tensions were higher because of the war," said Mr Alidou Kone, a merchant in Pinhou, 15 kilometres from Duekoue.
Despite some attacks by armed highwaymen, security has been noticeably better for foreign cocoa workers as well as local farmers and merchants since a military buffer zone was dismantled last year, people working in the industry said.
"Since last July things have been calm and producers are working without a problem," Mr Kone said.
Known as Burkinabes
Militiamen who in late 2002 joined forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo are no longer operating openly, but their hidden presence in a region which suffered violent atrocities during the war is feared. Most have not yet been disarmed.
"What frightens everyone here is the militia. They are responsible for murders, violence, stealing, and attacks on lorries during the cocoa harvest because they've nothing to do," said Moustapha Kante, a merchant based in Fengolo, seven kilometres north of Duekoue.
Fengolo is populated largely by Northerners and people from Burkina Faso, known as Burkinabes.
People here say disarming the militia is paramount, as polls are due to coincide with a key period in the coffee and cocoa production seasons, and any disruption will be keenly felt.
"If they are disarmed before the elections, that would resolve the situation, but if not it could heat up in Duekoue because they don't accept outsiders and they are always armed," Kante said.
Electoral observers say the presence of gunmen is one of several factors that make Ivory Coast unlikely to be able to hold polls as planned.
Voters must be identified, electoral lists published and fighters disarmed to enable a free poll and ensure the losers do not challenge the results, Charles Yaovi Djrekpo, resident coordinator for the US-based National Democratic Institute, told Reuters last week.
Farmers, meanwhile, are more concerned about their harvest. The six-month main cocoa crop opens in October.
Cocoa and coffee farms in the west, largely controlled by the Burkinabe and migrants from the north of Ivory Coast, are expected to produce a good crop, and prices on world markets are hovering just below multi-year highs.
Cocoa pod growth has improved because chemical treatments have been more freely available since the lifting of roadblocks manned by government forces, farmers say.
"We think the harvest will start at the end of the month. We hope we will produce more than last year, that's what people are thinking about here," said trader Kante.
"Nobody's interested in politics for the moment."
On Saturday, one of Cote d'Ivoire's groups - the Guere - gathered to ask for forgiveness and blessings from their ancestors by saying prayers and performing sacred dances during the annual traditional ceremony to purify their land for their role in the civil war that split the country into a government-run south and rebel-held north.
Meanwhile, the first shipment of material to make new voter registration cards has arrived in Cote d'Ivoire, a French company has said, in an important step forward for elections that have been repeatedly delayed.
The elections are now set to be held on November 30."We have received a shipment of 1,500 cases of the total of 6,000 that we are expecting," said Sidi Kagnassi, a spokesman for the French company Sagem, which is handling the operation.
"The rest of the material should arrive within a week," he added.
Under the peace deal signed in March 2007 between President Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, now the country's prime minister, the parties agreed on a voter identification process to issue digital identity cards to all eligible voters among the 19 million population.
Sagem, a private security firm, was hired in November to enrol all Ivorians over the age of 18 to update the electoral lists. In the last decade when Cote d'Ivoire was plagued by various conflicts the state had not issued any identity cards.
Before the start of the sensitive voter-identification process, Gbagbo said there were about 300,000 eligible Ivorian voters, while the former rebel movement insisted there were as many as three million.
There are estimates that the number of voters in the presidential election could be as high as eight million people.
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