United States Embassy (Abidjan)
15 October 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.
Reports in the Ivorian newspapers today said that a joint government-New Forces delegation meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, has proposed a new date for the crucial presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire. Dailies also quoted experts saying that toxic waste, which was dumped more than year ago in Abidjan, could have a long term effect on the health of the population. Still on health issues, two newspapers carried in-depth reports analyzing how the HIV/AIDS pandemic is causing havoc in Cote d'Ivoire and claiming mismanagement in this sector.
1. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily): A banner headline in this paper said that a joint government and New Forces (former Ivorian rebel movement) oversight committee of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement has proposed that presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire should be held during the first quarter of 2009. Members of this committee, reported the paper, are currently gathered in Ouagadougou for "new talks on their peace deal [signed in March 2007] in an attempt to find solutions to some sticking points." Those issues, explained the paper, include "the controversy over the rank and the number of the New Forces' ex-fighters eligible to join Cote d'Ivoire's new national army." Fraternite Matin quoted the New Forces' spokesperson, Alain Lobognon, as saying that the aim of this current meeting is to craft "another complementary agreement." The paper went on quoting an unnamed source as saying that the two sides have also agreed that the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) should secure the whole electoral process.
2. Still on the new date of the coming elections, Fraternite Matin quoted the UN Secretary Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, as suggesting that "the delay [of the polls] should not be too long." Mr. Choi was speaking yesterday in Abidjan after a meeting with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. To meet the deadline, the UN envoy suggested that priority should be given to logistic problems. Mr. Choi, the paper said, also informed President Gbagbo about the security measures to be put in place by UNOCI in connection with the coming elections. In a related development, Fraternite Matin carried another story on the ongoing voter registration exercise in the run-up to the forthcoming presidential elections. The report quoted Cote d'Ivoire Prime Minister Guillaume Soro as saying that "security forces from both government and New Forces armies will be deployed as from next week to secure the registration centers." The Prime Minister's declaration came in the wake of "violent demonstrations in some centers," reported the paper.
3. Meanwhile, a front-page report in Notre Voie (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) said that many voter registration centers in Abidjan were closed yesterday as a result of strikes launched by census agents over what they called "bad working conditions."
4. Le Temps (a daily close to the ruling FPI party) carried a two-page in-depth report where it pointed out some dysfunctions in the deal that has led to the appointment of SAGEM - a French company in charge of the identification process in Cote d'Ivoire. The paper allegedly called the deal signed between the government and SAGEM "a fraud" that would cost the State "more than 20 billion Francs CFA (about $ 42 million US dollars."
5. On health issues, pro and anti-government newspapers today reported that toxic waste, which was dumped more than a year ago in Abidjan, could have a long term effect on the population. A prominent story in L'inter (an independent daily), based on expert testimony in a case involving nine people accused of dumping toxic waste in Abidjan in August 2006, said that the life of the population in Abidjan is in danger as water bodies in the Ivorian economic capital and surrounding areas were contaminated. Reporting on the same testimony, Fraternite Matin focused on the original victims of the toxic waste, noting they could suffer from cancer in the future. On the same issue, Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to the opposition) said there could also be congenital problems in the children of the original victims.
6. A prominent story on the front-page of Le Jour Plus (a daily close to the opposition) said that the HIV pandemic is "a real disaster in Cote d'Ivoire, especially among youth." The paper quoted Dr. Jean-Pierre Kouassi, Program Officer for PEPFAR-ANADER Counseling and Testing Project, as saying that one of the reasons that the pandemic is gaining ground is that "women cannot negotiate the use of condoms with their partners." The report said that for this year alone, PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) has granted more than $120 million US dollars to about 40 organizations, including the Ministry in Charge of AIDS and the Ministry of Health, to help fight the disease. The newspaper story further said that other international donors including the World Bank and the United Nations are providing financial support to Cote d'Ivoire. However, the story said, many actors in this sector wonder whether these funds were really used to fight the disease. People living with the disease reportedly claimed that organizations which say they are fighting the disease are "just putting the money in their pockets." The paper also quoted a source close to the PEPFAR team in Abidjan who rejected this assertion. In a related development, Le Patriote (a daily close to the opposition RDR party) published a rejoinder from the Ministry in Charge of AIDS in reaction to an earlier investigative story in the same newspaper on how the ministry is mismanaging funds designated to be used in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 United States Embassy. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
