Resumption of appeals process
on electoral list on 10 May 2010

Agence Ivoirienne de Presse
(AIP) - The
appeals process on the provisional electoral list will resume on 10 May 2010,
according to a joint statement by the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) whose copy was sent to the AIP on Monday.
The operation which was suspended on 10 February of this year, will resume in
order that the persons registered on the "grey list" give evidences to be
registered on the provisional electoral list. With regard to the 5.3 million
persons who are on the "white list" they will be processed later, during a
second phase, says the statement, outlining that this "important" decision was
made with the agreement of the President of the Republic, Laurent Gbagbo and the
political class which was consulted during several working sessions.

"For a better assistance of
the appeals process on the crossed list, the Prime Minister used the decree
18/PM/CAB of 30 April 2010 which states the mechanisms for the management of
requests for registration by the persons on the list which was published in
addition to the provisional electoral list", the document outlines, saying that
the decree introduces the establishment of 415 appeals committees with the local
IECs throughout the country. The appeals committees are composed of
representatives of the IEC, CNSI, ONI, SNI and representatives of Sagem Securité
as observers. "From 10 May the appeals committees have 15 days to make all the
decisions" regarding the appeals by the petitioners who are invited by the IEC
to appeal for "possible correction of the code of their collect centre in the
event of a mistake on the crossed list". "The applicants who are not satisfied
with the decisions made by the appeals process committees will be able to refer
the matter to the courts during the second phase of the appeals process which
will focus on the provisional electoral list" (...)

Presidential election in Côte
d'Ivoire – President Laurent Gbagbo is absolutely positive: "We are going to
have elections this year" – what he thinks of the white list

Soir Info–
Laurent Gbagbo, President of the Republic, candidate to his own succession, put
an end to the debate on the holding the presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire
which has been postponed time and time again. When he met with the workers of
Côte d'Ivoire on Saturday 1^st May 2010 in his office in Plateau, he
tried to reassure Ivorian voters. "This year we will organize election. We have
progressed more than anyone believed" said the President to reassure people and
counter those who accuse him of delaying the election. For him, the problems in
Côte d'Ivoire will be resolved if the Ouagadougou Political Agreements are fully
applied (OPA). With regard to the famous electoral list of 5.3 million
petitioners, he brushed aside all external certification: "Do they know who the
5.3 million persons are?
Do they know how
this was done?
Who is going to certify it? Where? When? Who certified?
I am the one who
certifies. This
is why I say that we are going to look at it and seriously review it. We are
going to reunify the country and clean the electoral lists because we want fair,
transparent, inclusive election. We are going to provide the new Chairman of the
IEC (Independent Electoral Commission, Editor's note) with a clean list." He
also said he warned Beugré Mambé, the former Chairman that only the working
method could be reached by consensus, not the electoral list. (...) President
Laurent Gbagbo wants to avoid catastrophic elections with dramatic consequences.
"We do not want to hold election and fight. (...) "If there is not election on 1^st
August 2010, we will postpone the big parade. And the elected President will do
it. The fiftieth anniversary is a jubilee. The elected President will do it. If
not, we will content with symbolic parade », he said to end the debate.

The Forces Nouvelles reaffirms
its commitment to the political agreement and disarmament, according to its
deputy military Chief of Staff Wattao

Agence Ivoirienne de Presse
(AIP) -
Guillaume Soro's Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles, the ex-rebellion, is
reassuring all the national and international communities in total, full and
entire commitment to disarm in accordance with the Ouagadougou Political
Agreement, which was concluded on 4 March 2007 in the Burkinabè capital and to
complete the current peace process in Côte d'Ivoire. "I assure the international
community that we are committed to go to peace and no arm of the Forces
Nouvelles will be an obstacle to peace (...) Our elements are ready to go to
disarmament", reiterated its deputy military Chief of Staff, Commander Issiaka
Ouattara also called Wattao, during a press conference hosted in its
headquarters in Bouaké, on Saturday (...) Addressing the incident which occurred
on Thursday in Bouaké and produced three deaths, including one lieutenant,
called Dem-Cool, the Commander of unit Anaconda simply deplored the "sad
incident" (...) "We are going to do everything to avoid the repetition of this
kind of incidents which trouble Ivorians' serenity", he promised, reiterating
his movement's commitment to complete the process for peace. With regard to
disarmament, Commander Wattao revealed that "an almost finished timetable on the
FN's disarmament will be produced soon to confirm that the Armed Forces of the
Forces Nouvelles are involved in the Ouagadougou Agreement and nothing will get
them out".

After Wade's trip to Côte
d'Ivoire: Blaise Compaoré no longer wants to be mediator.

Soir Info
 – "Less than two weeks after
the visit by the Senegalese head of state in Abidjan, a reliable source says
that the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré does not want to be the
facilitator in the Ivoirian crisis anymore (...) President Compaoré, according to
the source, had not appreciated the approach of the Ivorian head of state and
his guest President Abdoulaye Wade, in the Ivoirian case. For our source Blaise
Compaoré had hardly accepted the fact that the programme of M. Wade's visit was
published in the Ivorian press before he, as facilitator, was officially aware
of it. He blamed President Gbagbo, for giving the impression, through the
involvement of President Wade in the Ivorian crisis,  that the mediator had
failed. (...) In this context, the president of Burkina Faso has instructed his
officials to send a letter to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
the African Union (AU) and the Ivorian political actors. The contents of the
letter in preparation, according to our source close to the facilitation, will
not openly mention the recriminations of the Head of State of Burkina Faso
against Presidents Gbagbo and Wade. The reason for Compaoré's withdrawal could
turn around the coming presidential election in Burkina Faso. (...)

Suspension of the march on May
15 / The RJDP's executive board responds to Desire Tagro: "We maintain our
demonstration"

Le Patriote  -
A disappointing answer to Mr. Tagro! The Interior Minister will not wait long
for the answer to his request to the young Houphouetists to postpone their
march. While he was waiting for next Monday to meet with the youth of the Rally
of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), they decided before that
meeting to voice their refusal. On Friday, April 30, during an interview with Le
Patriote, the leaders of the RHDP's youth clearly stated that they will not
postpone their march. Their refusal, they insisted was irreversible. According
to these young people, they were under "huge pressure" from their militants. (...)
According to them the march on May 15 went beyond the youths of the opposition.
It was about the whole Côte D'Ivoire which sought after the elections. "Tagro's
proposal was indecent. He asked us to postpone our march. (...) On 15 May,
throughout Côte d'Ivoire, and his cities Ivorians will demonstrate," Yayoro
Karamoko, the President of the Youth Rally for Democracy and Peace (RJDP) and
his comrades stated. For them, the pretext of the holding of the Annual
Assemblies of the African Bank of Development brandished by Mr. Tagro to
postpone the march was a false alibi. (...) As regards to the meaning of the
march, the executive board of the RJDP recalled that it was not an insurgency.
However it was "the last warning". "As long as we do not have our identity
cards, our voter cards, the final electoral list and a date for the elections,
we will not rest," they warned.

Intimidations against the
opposition parties surface again: The death squads are back

Le Nouveau Réveil
 - The death squads
have surfaced again. Several opposition figures living in Cocody have been
threatened during this weekend. Individuals with weapons of war have visited
their homes. These murderous practices, thought to have disappeared, against all
odds, have surfaced again. As strange as it may seem, this phenomenon resurfaces
every time the opposition begins a civil action to claim the elections. It was
previously the case. It is the case today with the forthcoming march of
Houphouetists youths on May 15. The armed robberies of the homes of opposition
figures have started again. This time, it was not just "big militants" that were
targeted, but the militant lambda. The coordinator of the Jpdci Assi Hermann was
the target last Saturday.
(...).