UN invites political leaders to
exercise restraint and demonstrate sense of responsibility

Fraternité-Matin
 – A UN evaluation
mission led by Dmitry  Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and
Security Institutions at the Department of Peace Keeping Operations held
discussions yesterday with the Prime Minister  Soro Guillaume on the electoral
process and the October 31 presidential election.  The envoy of Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
recalled that last week, the security council examined the situation in Côte
d'Ivoire (...) He also said " the Council called for the need to be vigilant and
to see to it that no excuse should be given for the disruption or postponement
of the election." The head of the delegation disclosed that "if the election
turns out to be free and fair, the UN would be disposed to fully engage in the
development of Cote d'Ivoire."   

Hamadoun Toure a propos the
electoral process: "No delays observed can be imputed to UNOCI"

Nord-Sud
 –At the weekly press
conference held this time in Yamoussoukro, the UNOCI spokesperson , Hamadoun
Toure said UNOCI was ready for the transportation of electoral materials as well
as the distribution of voters' and national identity cards to 415 local
electoral commissions, hence no delays can be imputed to it. "UNOCI is ready and
as soon as the materials are available, we would ensure their transportation and
distribution," he stated, saying the UN mission had begun the distribution of
cards on Thursday. Bouake and the rest of the country, he announced, would be
covered on Friday. Mr. Toure also announce d a number of activities carried out
by UN Mission to establish a peaceful electoral environment including a seminar
to be held on the 12 and 13 October for international election observers and
sensitization campaigns in the interior of the country, training sessions for
traditional rulers and media practitioners of private non-profit radio stations.
On the security aspect, The spokesperson indicated the imminent arrival of 150
Senegalese troops to be followed by another 150 Togolese troops.

Soro at distribution points:
"There are difficulties but..."

L'Inter
 – In order to ascertain the
effective distribution of the national identity and voters' cards, Prime
Minister Guillaume Soro visited the Chamber of Commerce and Epp Amon Daby
distribution centres in the Plateau district of Abidjan yesterday and assured
Ivorians that the exercise would be accelerated as time goes on.

"The operation was very much
awaited. In the centres we have visited, we noticed a lot of people. The second
observation is that agents of the Independent electoral Commission and the
Office of National Identification are in place and have effectively begun
distribution. It's true there are difficulties, but it's an operation that would
gather speed as time goes on," the Prime Minister declared. One distribution
agent noted that the cards were not arranged in alphabetical order, thus voters'
spend about 5 minutes to obtain their card.

Youssouf Bakayoko to
candidates: "The completion would be stiff but...

Patriote
 - "We are today entering one
of the major phases of our timetable, that is to say the handing over of
electoral documents to the presidential candidates or their representatives. We
are now in a position to hand them samples of their campaign posters, ballot
papers, a computerized version of the definitive voters' register, and the list
of voting stations and offices at a cost of 100cfa francs per poster.

APWE militias prevent a meeting
of FPI party in Duekoue, saying the party is ungrateful

Le Nouveau- Réveil
 Militias of the
Patriotic alliance of We (APWE), the self-defense group in the West, known to
have been created by The FPI to assist it liberate the Western part of Cote
d'Ivoire during the civil war, has twice made news in Duekoue yesterday. First,
it its young militants dressed in black tee-shirts invaded the Houphouet Boigny
Square where a political rally expected to be led by the First Lady Simone
Gbagbo was scheduled to take place in the morning. They ransacked chairs and
tents that had been put in place for the meeting. The militants have said they
would not allow the holding of any political meetings until their grievances
concerning the payment of 500,000 cfa francs each as demobilization and
reinsertion bonus. They were heard calling Gbagbo an ingrate and complaining
that they had fought for president Gbagbo and now he has abandoned them. (...)