National Daily Press Review (August 25, 2010)
August 25, 2010
The ongoing electoral contentions on the provisional voter’s lists again make headlines in today’s Ivorian press, which also reports on the latest developments in the electoral process underway in Cote d’Ivoire. The disarmament program and the human rights situation in Cote d’Ivoire are the other major issues in the press.
1. A prominent article on the front page of Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the opposition PDCI-RDA party) says that just two days before the end of the electoral contentions on the provisional voter’s lists, the ruling FPI party has thrown the exercise into a “mess”. According to the paper, there is an increasing demand from the ruling FPI which is requesting that names of people allegedly accused to be fraudulently registered on the electoral lists should be removed from the provisional electoral list.
2. Reporting on ongoing electoral contentions on the provisional voter’s lists, the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin carries a banner headline saying that the court in Abidjan has only two days to decide on whether 20,000 potential voters should be removed or not from the electoral lists. Another report in this paper says that in the eastern town of Abengourou, where violence was reported a few days ago, the hearings could not take place yesterday, as the judges and requesters did not turn out. Meanwhile, the United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) yesterday called for calm as the electoral contentions on the provisional voter’s lists are continuing, reports the paper. The paper publishes a statement issued Tuesday by the UN mission saying that it has noted “increasing verbal and physical tension during the process of the electoral contentions on the provisional voter’s lists,” adding that “if this atmosphere continues this could compromise progress made in the electoral process.”
3. In a related development, Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to the cabinet of the Prime Minister) carries an interview with Alain Lobognon, the Premier’s Press Officer, who accused the Independent Electoral Commission of being responsible for “the illegal” removal of names on the electoral lists. Lobognon, who was commenting on the ongoing electoral contention, reportedly said that “citizens have been sent to a slaughter house,” and reassured the public that measures are being put in place in order to patch up “dysfunctions created by the electoral commission” in a bid to save the process. With more on this process, the paper carries a separate story saying that the New Forces – the Ivorian former rebel movement – have also called for calm.
4. With barely two months to go the polls in Cote d’Ivoire, L’Expression (a daily close to the opposition) denounces what it calls “a coup d’etat” against the electoral commission in a bid to further delay the presidential elections. The article accuses top officials close to Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of being the brains behind the maneuver. It also suggests that the plan is to weaken the electoral commission and take the elections from the plate of the electoral watchdog on the grounds that the body cannot function because of internal disputes. The paper goes on to quote political observers, who see the move as “unrealistic”.
5. On issues regarding the disarmament of former New Forces fighters, Le Patriote (a daily close to the opposition RDR party) reports that a process aimed at taking some 1,200 ex-combatants back to the barracks started yesterday in the western city of Man. According to the paper, the return of the former fighters to the barracks will be run alongside the disbandment of soldiers who have not been selected to join Cote d’Ivoire’s future army. Reporting on the same issue, L’inter (an independent daily) quotes Ivorian Defense Minister Michel Amani N’Guessan who confirmed that the budget of the disarmament, encampment, and the disbandment is ready and was submitted to the government on August 24.
6. On another development, a report in L’inter says that the Head of the National Human Rights Commission in Cote d’Ivoire, Victorine Wodie, yesterday accused the New Forces of human rights violations. The accusation, the paper says, came as the head of the commission presented the annual report on human rights in Cote d’Ivoire. On the same issue, Soir Info (an independent daily) quotes Wodie as saying that “there is no state authority in the central, northern and western regions” of Cote d’Ivoire, while another report in L’Expression says that the head of the human rights commission has also accused Ivorian Forces of Defense and Security of violating human rights.