The RDR consults Choi
Fraternité Matin «The Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, and the secretary-general of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), Henriette Diabaté, discussed the electoral process and the current situation in the country on Monday in Abidjan. "We discussed everything and we are leaving with information which will help us to continue our reflection," said Mrs. Diabaté at the end of the meeting at the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). Questioned on the RDR's reaction with regard to the current situation, namely the crisis in the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the RDR's secretary-general said that her party's position was the same as the one already announced by the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP). "We do not want to be distracted. We want to have elections on bases which are clear to everybody," she added.[...]

The electoral committee of the Pdci-Rda: "Choi's silence could be taken as complicity and partiality"
Le Nouveau Réveil - «The electoral committee of the Pdci-Rda presided over by the Minister of State Bamba Mamadou met yesterday Monday at the Cocody headquarters of the Pdci-Rda. The problem of the 429,000 petitioners and the removal of those registered on the electoral list were the two points discussed by the meeting. The members of the said committee also examined the appropriate action taken to organize elections in Côte d'Ivoire. For the chairman of the electoral committee of the Pdci-Rda, there is no doubt that "the FPI do not want to have elections". (...). The behaviour of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General remains ambiguous. He remains silent on the domination of state media by the presidential camp and the FPI's questioning of the production electoral list and the FPI's insistence on « ethnic purification». Even though he has to certify the role of state media in the process and the electoral list. The latest UN Security Council resolutions talked about sanctions against those who prevent progress in the electoral process. Désiré Tagro blithely violates the laws and the texts which govern the process. Before the eyes and the knowledge of the world, he attempts to substitute the territorial administration at the IEC. This worrying silence on these essential questions could be taken as complicity and partiality. [...] »

Electoral appeals – The facilitator of the Ivorian crisis pursues his consultations with the political actors - Tagro meets Compaoré today
Fraternité Matin - «President Blaise Compaoré, Facilitator of the inter-Ivorian direct dialogue who held discussions in Ouagadougou this weekend, with Prime Minister Soro Guillaume, will probably meet this week with the presidential camp represented by Minister of the Interior, Désiré Tagro. The meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday. We can easily assume that the discussions will focus on the scandal at the Independent Electoral Commission with regard to the affair of the 429,000 petionners.[...] »

Compaoré calls a crisis meeting in Ouaga
L'Inter - « That's it! The Facilitator of the inter-Ivorian dialogue, President Blaise Compaoré has finally decided to take action and attempt to resolve the crisis surrounding the electoral list in Côte d'Ivoire. In this regard he has invited the principal protagonists of the crisis to a meeting which is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 11 February in Ouagadougou. [...]"

A second Rwanda is imminent
L'Expression "After meeting with their soldiers on Sunday in Bouaké, the political directorate of the Forces Nouvelles held discussions with the general delegates to assess the situation in their zones after the recent events in Divo, Katiola and Man on the processing of appeals on the electoral list. In their report, the delegates expressed the populations' concerns with regard to the court procedures to remove persons from the provisional electoral lists. "They are not frightened by the operation. They are ready to make appeals but they have reservations. Because, they believe that the processing of appeals is not being done in accordance with the modus operandi approved and transmitted by the IEC and the administrative services", Konaté Sidiki said. While deploring the violent action in Divo, Katiola and Man, the spokesman of the Forces Nouvelles said that his movement which "worked for several years, during the hardest times, to maintain the community coexistence, notices that these same communities are enemies, ready to attack each other. These are germs of civil war. Each one is already preparing its ammunition. Some prepare machetes, others prepare knives, ready to fight against the one responsible for the situation. Or the one who refuses the decision." The Minister of Tourism draws the attention of the national and international opinion on the "drama we are living." For him, there is real danger in the house with this wave of "abusive denunciations, the use of the village chiefs as instruments" which creates an atmosphere of "suspicion and denouncement among the communities." For Konaté Sidiki, if we followed the normal modus operandi, we would have avoided this useless violence. "If, he argued, I know that it is a chief who removed my family from the voters list when he does not have this right. This is a conflict situation (...) we should work to sensitize and ask politicians who do this kind of things to consider the risks for the communities who were living in peaceful coexistence. Are we going to respond tomorrow to the unpredictable consequences of this loss of control? The delegates have the names of the politicians who want to set one community against another. This provokes war in neighbourhoods and in villages. This is Rwanda coming to Côte d'Ivoire. Yes, Rwanda is coming to Côte d'Ivoire. I do not want to frighten Ivoirians. But it is better to say this now in order to avoid the worst», said Guillaume Soro's collaborator. »