Photo: Simone Gbagbo Website With a front-page headline saying, "the secret behind the ICC deputy prosecutor's visit to Abidjan," Le Nouveau Courrier (p. 5) claims that Fatou Bensouda's visit was part of "a face saving" maneuver following the International Criminal Court's "incoherent and selective" position on who should be charged for alleged crimes committed during the Ivorian crisis.
The paper also suggests that before the visit of the ICC deputy prosecutor, a section of the local media supportive of President Alassane Ouattara has tried to focus on the possible transfer of the former first lady to The Hague - a strategy which, the paper says, was designed the distract public attention from the main purpose of this visit.
The paper quotes insiders as saying that Bensouda used her meeting with President Ouattara as an opportunity to ask the latter to cooperate in the prosecution of some of his associates.
In a related development, Le Nouveau Courrier (p. 1) carries a front-page headline denouncing "collusion between Ouattara's camp and the ICC," using as evidence an alleged congratulatory letter sent to Guillaume Soro by the ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on the occasion of Soro's election as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Ocampo's alleged letter to Soro is also the subject of a front-page headline in L'Inter which comments that this letter will revive the debate over the impartiality and credibility of the ICC.
"Should Simone be sent to the ICC?" asks Nord-Sud Quotidien (p. 4) which quotes sources as saying that President Ouattara is opposed to the idea of transferring the former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, to The Hague on the ground that the transfer could undermine the reconciliation process underway in Cote d'Ivoire.
"If Cote d'Ivoire has the means to punish the culprits without being accused of being partial, it would prefer to try its nationals on its soil," the paper quotes Government's spokesman Bruno Kone as saying yesterday in the wake of the ICC deputy prosecutor's visit to Cote d'Ivoire.
Kone is also reported as saying that the decision to accept the transfer of the former president Laurent Gbagbo came when conditions for his trial at home could not be met.
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.
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