UNOCI is working
in Odienné

Nord Sud  –
The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI)
in collaboration with the regional platform for the reinforcement of social
cohesion, on 27 July 2010 organized a sensitization meeting with political
parties represented in Odienné. The meeting which was part of the
crisis-resolution process was aimed at reexamining the "code of conduct of
political parties, civil society groups, political forces and candidates for
elections in Côte d'Ivoire". The principal objective of the meeting was to
remind political organizations who signed the code of conduct of the commitment
they took to reinforce social cohesion for the establishment of a peaceful
electoral environment in the region during this pre-electoral period.

Exclusive /
Elections, appeals process, voters' list, here are all the clarifications / The
IEC is formal: "Some errors will not be corrected"

Soir Info  – (...)
it was a very serene spokesperson for the IEC who
talked to us by phone. First element: appeals process on provisional voters'
list is still going on and even though we might complain about the small number
of petitioners, the operation is following its normal course. The spokesperson,
Bamba Yacouba denied reports by a new reporter that the verification operations
would end on Thursday 29 July. "The institution has not yet taken a decision on
this issue and that the report only involves the authors. If operations are due
to end, it is the IEC's responsibility to make this decision and it will issue a
statement as usual", said Mr. Bamba. As spokesperson for the IEC, he considered
that he was in a position to give useful information. And about useful
information..., Bamba Yacouba said that some people who found mistakes in the
spelling of their names during the previous verification and have found the same
mistakes in the second exercise have no other choice but to go to polling
stations and vote on voting day. In this regard, a recommendation taken by the
recent meeting of the Permanent Consultative Framework (CPC) states those errors
on names' spelling should be taken into account only after election. Clearly
stated, the errors on the provisional voters' list will only be corrected after
the elections.

Bouaké –
Gbêkêkro – Gbagbo's envoy kidnapped by rebels

Notre Voie  –
Antoine Koffi Yao is an activist of the FPI, the party
of Affi N'Guessan. He is even the Campaign Director of Laurent Gbagbo in the
sector of Gbêkêkro, a shantytown in Bouaké. On Sunday 25 July, he was conducting
a mission in the village of Amanibo as part of the verification and appeals
process on the provisional voters' list when he was kidnapped by elements of the
Forces Nouvelles. Since Sunday, his biological and political families have not
received news of him until they was alerted yesterday morning by unknown
persons. The Forces Nouvelles confirms that they have kidnapped Antoine Yao
Koffi but they refuse to contact the family and the members of the party.
According to a member of the district campaign directorate (DDC) of candidate
Laurent Gbagbo in Bouaké, Yao Koffi is in custody in one of the prisons of the
rebels under the command of a so-called "Commandant Doctor". He is allegedly
accused of listing the names of some

people to prevent them from having their Ivorian identity card.
Whereas according to his close circle and witnesses of the kidnapping scene, he
was in the village for the control of the provisional voters' list. He was
working when a so-called Dao, allegedly delegate of the RDR, went to inform the
elements of the Forces Nouvelles at the south corridor. And they took him to an
unknown destination. Today the district campaign directorate of Candidate
Laurent Gbagbo is vigorously protesting against the kidnapping and said it now
understands better the threats and intimidations that the population of Amanibi
are going through. According to the information collected on the ground, Amanibo
is a small village with no more than 80 voters. But on the provisional voters'
list posted in the village, 405 persons are registered and ready to vote in the
presidential election. Even out of the 80 persons who are likely to vote, 32
were in a doubtful situation. "We have all the evidence. People have been
transported by road and dropped at the corridor to be registered. You could ask
all the inhabitants of the village, they will tell you that there are many
persons on the list they have never seen. They will even tell you that the
individuals are not from Bouaké", said a member of the DDC. Yesterday members of
the DDC returned to Abidjan to meet with the local authorities in order to
question them on their security in the zones that are still under the control of
rebels.

Gagnoa /
Slaughter of the RHDP's activists in February / 5 months after events of
February which resulted in deaths in Gagnoa; a member of the death commando
gives clarifications on the tragedy of the Fromager city. A member of the
commando explains everything...

L'Expression  –
Friday 19 February 2010, militants of the opposition
in Gagnoa, following a call by their national leaders, demonstrated on the
streets. They protested against the double dissolution of the government and the
Independent Electoral Commission by candidate president Laurent Gbagbo which
happened one week ago. Started early in the morning, the event quickly turned
into a tragedy. In the confrontation between demonstrators and the forces of law
and order, five militants of the opposition had been killed by the Defence and
Security Forces. Five months later, we met with a gendarme who said he
participated in the killing. In his story, he disclosed the details of the
operation. For security reasons we will call him TS. Well-built with a clever
look, the commando of the Ivorian gendarmerie gave clarifications on the mission
of the Fromager city. "We conducted the operation in Gagnoa. The gendarmes in
the town, already known by the population, could not take part in the
demonstration. We had been selected in Daloa and Yamoussoukro. (...) We received
firm instructions. Our leadership instructed us not to fire at the crowd.
However if someone was directly threatened, he could resort to self-defence »,
he said. And he added: "On the scene of the operations, the crowd was moving
toward us and we asked them to stop. But the demonstrators refused. We started
to fire in the air to dissuade them from advancing. But the shots were
encouraging them to move forward. And one commando who was used to this kind of
operation started to fire at the crowd. He alone killed five persons. As a hit
man, he was shooting at their heads. In our profession, killing in this kind of
operation means imposing respect". According to him the trigger-madman had a
large experience in this domain. "He is young. But he is much respected in our
hierarchy because of his efficiency on the ground. He is a full warrior who
fears nothing. He is a hit man. He is the chief of a big unit. When we are
conducting an operation we know that what we are doing is not good. When we
return home we are obliged to pray to ask for god's forgiveness", he said.
Questioned on the reaction of the leadership after the mission, our interlocutor
said that nobody was worried. "A General met us. He said he could not condemn
anyone. He said we are bread-winners and it was normal to resort to self-defence
if we are in danger", he highlighted.