A prominent headline in Le Patriote (p. 1) says that Cherif Ousmane, a former warlord, has been appointed by the army high command as the head of an "anti-armed gangs unit."

The paper (p. 6) quotes the Chief of Defense Staff, General Soumaila Bakayoko, as saying that this nomination is "to strengthen" an operation code named "Zidra" designed to crack down bandits who are operating on the country's highways.

"Ghana will not serve as a launching base to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire," says a front-page headline in Nord-Sud Quotidien. The paper attributes this statement to Ghana's Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire, Lieutenant Enoch Kwame Donkoh, who was speaking in Abidjan on Tuesday during a reception marking Ghana's Independence Day.

This daily press review is compiled by the Information Section of the Public Affairs Office of the American Embassy in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. The opinions expressed in these reviews in no way reflect the views of the United States Government and are presented for informational purposes only. The accuracy of reports contained in this summary has not been confirmed by the Embassy.