Civil society in Logoualé and
Bangolo discuss peaceful electoral environment with UNOCI

Le Quotidien  -
The United Nations
Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) on Thursday 22 April initiated a workshop for
50 members of civil society in Logoualé and Bangolo on the theme: "Promotion of
the culture of peace and reinforcement of social cohesion for a peaceful
electoral environment" in Logoualé, 540 km northwest of Abidjan. (...) Diane
Pezzini, coordinator of UNOCI headquarters in Sector West, recalled the aim of
the mission's sensitization activities and stressed that the culture of peace
was a prerequisite to the establishment of a peaceful electoral environment. (...)
The Secretary-General of the Mayor's Office of Logoualé, Dodé Zady, welcomed the
holding of the workshop in the town (...) "Here we really need it because this
region which was once a hospitable place is today a place of discords and
divisions", he said. (...) Logoualé's deputy prefect, Sery Ablé, representing the
Prefect of the 18 Montagnes region, said he was grateful to UNOCI for its
support to the crisis-resolution process. He said he would like the election to
be an opportunity to reunite. "Election should be a democratic game, played with
respect. We should not use it to threaten social cohesion. Since our Côte
d'Ivoire is sick due to our misconduct, we should resolve the problem by
avoiding getting round our laws and rules which are our life code", he said.
Traditional and religious leaders as well as leaders of women and youths
associations from both localities participated in the workshop. (...)

 

Meeting at UNOCI headquarters

Soir Info  The
Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte
d'Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, opened the sixth conference of administrations of United
Nations West Africa missions, at the headquarters of the United Nations
Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) on Friday, 23 April 2010. Mr. Choi said on
this occasion that it was an honour for UNOCI to host the meeting.

 

What Wade's mission in Côte
d'Ivoire is hiding – France is pulling the strings –
Why Gbagbo dropped the issue of the list of 5.3 million
persons

L'Inter  - (...)
About one month before the summit (Nice), the French power is trying to
recuperate a "rebel" Laurent Gbagbo who is ready to assert his authority, but it
does not want to lose Côte d'Ivoire, its major economic partner and strategic
country in its politics in West Africa. In Dakar, under Wade's mediation, the
summit that the Ivorian President is refusing to attend was discussed. However
Mr. Sarkozy wants the holding of the meeting to discuss the issues of
Franco-African relations. Refusing the invitation for the 31 May, Gbagbo is
therefore complicating the predictions of the Elysée, which did not appreciate
this attitude of the Ivorian Head of State. Paris especially sees a will to be
set free from the French leadership to submit to other horizons. So using Wade
who is known as a notorious Francophile, Sarkozy wants to better understand the
Ivorian President's attitude. In return, Laurent Gbagbo, in order to explain his
polite refusal to attend the summit in Nice, used the discussions, the issue of
the crisis-resolution in Côte d'Ivoire, which is marked by the organization of
election. The chief of the ruling camp who wants to be elected once again
through the votes wants well-organized and unquestionable election at the
national and international level. According to our sources, Wade reassured him
of Paris' support. With this guarantee, Gbagbo made concessions and promised the
Senegalese President that the blockage on the electoral list of 5.3 million
persons will be lifted. The white list which is due to be audited after a
request by Gbagbo's camp can now be considered as the file for the next
election. Wade said he made Laurent Gbagbo submit on this issue. However, the
Ivorian Head of State said he does not want the 14,000 foreigners announced by
the press to be registered on the list. (...)

 

 

 

 

 

The opposition is determined
to "force" Gbagbo to hold the presidential election.

ALERTE INFO
- During a meeting on Sunday in Korhogo (north), the Rally of Houphouetists for
Democracy and Peace (RHDP), a coalition of four opposition parties in Côte
d'Ivoire, stated that the main objective of its march on May 15 was to "coerce"
President Laurent Gbagbo to hold the presidential election. "(Mr.) Gbagbo does
not want to organize the elections, we must compel him to do it," the chairman
of the youth of the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI, a member of the
RHDP), Bertin Kouadio Konan said on Sunday, at the Korhogo meeting. "May 15
should be a huge opportunity for us to show our unity and our majority," he
added." The Chief of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi,
had recently regretted the blockages in the Ivorian electoral process during his
meeting in Abidjan with the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. "The elections
were at hand but they escaped," he said. The elections expected "on late April
and early May" will no longer take place because of the various blockages in the
disarmament and the electoral process since January, including the accusations
of fraud on the electoral list. The electoral dispute has been suspended since
January and the process of the disarmament of the former combatants that was
variously interpreted by the presidential camp and the former rebel of the
Forces Nouvelles (FN) is stalled.

 

Denis Kah Zion (a Member of
the Political Bureau of PDCI), in San Pedro, yesterday: "The United Nations and
Compaoré cannot force Gbagbo to hold the elections; it is you who must do it."

Le Nouveau Réveil
 - Denis Kah Zion,
the general manager of the Le Nouveau Reveil group, a member of the Political
Bureau and the Secretariat of the PDCI-RDA, in charge of the communications of
the Party and the special guest at the Annual General Meeting of the Youth of
the Democratic Party of Cote D'Ivoire (JPDCI) (...) asked the youth of the
Ivorian opposition to take charge of their own destiny. "The UN and Blaise
Compaoré, the facilitator will not force Gbagbo to hold the elections. It is you
who must do it. Gbagbo is not ready to hold elections. The UN will do nothing,
not even Compaoré. The Defence and Security Forces are loyal to the government.
So I tell we must fight over the elections. We must force the FPI to hold the
elections (...).

 

The information and
mobilization missions of the RHDP's militants - KKB (Head of the delegation) to
the RHDP's militants of the Savannah regions: "On 15 May we will walk with Ado
(Alassane Dramane Ouattara) and Bédié"

Le Nouveau Réveil  -
Like the other delegations from the coalition of the Rally of the Houphouetists
for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), the one led by Bertin Kouadio Konan (KKB),
chairman of the Jpdci, brought to the militants of the Savannah region, the
message of the Executive board of the RHDP (...) If there is no election on May
2010, we must demand a new institutional framework" KKB said. "Côte d'Ivoire is
pregnant. If she cannot give birth normally to the elections, we will do a
cesarean. Gbagbo does not want to hold the elections in Côte d'Ivoire" he added.
"He said that there is nothing in front him but the Ivoirian people are in front
of him. The people have decided to organize a march on May 15 for their identity
cards, the voter registration cards and to know the date of the elections. On
May 15, Bédié and Ado will march ahead. So if we start marching on May 15, we
will not get out of the street unless Gbagbo get out of the power as our
priority, are the elections.

 

Abengourou - Karamoko Yayoro -
"We must snatch the elections from Gbagbo"

Le Patriote  -
(...) The head of the Rally of the Republicans' youth (RDR), Karamoko Yayoro,
urged the RDR's militants to take their responsibility. "We must snatch the
elections from Gbagbo or move to a new institutional order after the end of May,
without Gbagbo," he suggested. He also urged the militants, especially the youth
and women to mobilize for the march on May 15 "It will be our way to send a
clear message to the presidential camp to tell him that we want the elections,"
he said.