1000 peacekeepers on the way
to Abidjan

Soir Info -
« Alain Leroy, the Deputy UN
Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations has said that Burkinabé troops are
coming to « temporarily strengthen the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire
(UNOCI) for three months. "We have UN units in Liberia who will come and
strengthen UNOCI during the elections. We are going to increase the troops by
1000 during elections," Alain Leroy gave this information on Radio France
Internationale (RFI).
[...] »

 

Electoral Process: UNDP sets
the record straight

Fraternité-Matin
 – « The daily newspaper, Fraternité Matin, n° 13569 of Monday, 1st February
2010 published the headline: "Crisis at IEC: Donors freeze their funds". In the
article, which appeared on page 13 of the newspaper, it was written: "The United
Nations Development Programme, which manages the basket fund for contributors,
that is to say the financial support provided by donors to accompany the
crisis-resolution process, have decided to freeze the funds. This is proof that
they have lost confidence and that the Chairman of the IEC is no longer
involved ». It was also written that "Meetings of external partners have been
suspended until further notice". With regard to these claims, I would like to
make the following points:

1. The UNDP has not taken a
decision to freeze funds in the Basket Fund.

2. The release of funds for
the account of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) continues according to
what was agreed by the pilot committee of the basket fund and the IEC and in
accordance with the terms of the convention signed between the Government of the
republic of Côte d'Ivoire and the UNDP for the management of the basket fund to
support the electoral process.

3. The pilot committee, which
brings together all the partners, did not meet recently because of the fact that
the IEC was occupied with activities linked to the posting of the provisional
lists and the processing of appeals on the electoral lists. As soon as the IEC
has a detailed timetable of activities up until the holding of elections, the
meetings will recommence.[...] »

 

Massive fraud on the electoral
list: The Forces Nouvelles at war against Choi

Le Temps -
« The Forces Nouvelles (FN) has just reinforced the RHDP fight in the
resignation or non-resignation of Beugré Mambé which is against the majority
presidential camp. Seeing the majority presidential camp take the upper hand,
the FN has opened a front on Choi's side. The massive fraud on the electoral
list attributed to the IEC Chairman is the cause of this latent war between the
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and the Forces Nouvelles. The
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Y.J. Choi, has been rewarded
by contempt for having taken a position in the « Mambé affair ». .....In a
statement containing 24 points, just one point refers to Choi (...) .This is as
if they want to tell him that he is being paid but nothing has been done: « The
FN deplores the absence of appropriate reactions of those in charge of human
rights organizations, civil society and particularly the United Nations in Côte
d'Ivoire........ ».

 

Management of Ivorian crisis /
Gbagbo mocks UN

Le Mandat
 – « [...] The UN has a mission
to restore and maintain peace across the world ...Paradoxically, with the
frontists regime in power and in the grip of a civil war which will soon have
lasted (8) years, several UN resolutions have never been respected. This is the
fault of Laurent Gbagbo who has always treated the world organisation with
contempt. Gbagbo has always opposed what he calls the interference of the
international community in local affairs... He has contempt for this organisation
and its plethora of resolutions which remain, as far as he is concerned,
ineffective. Recently during the opening ceremony to launch the 50^th
year of Côte d'Ivoire, the head of state seized the occasion to remind everyone
of his contempt for the UN. "People talk about the international community.
What I
want is a national community", he said.   With
regard to what has been said, one can easily ask what is the use of  this
resolution 1911, bearing in mind that Gbagbo does not even consider it ... With
Gbagbo's contempt for the UN and the organisation's own powerlessness – does
this not tell us the UN is just a paper tiger? Its threats and the sanction do
not impress the Ivorian presidential clan. This is also aimed at the opposition
whose reflex is always to run to the international community. It should learn
some lessons from this if it is to be effective. But for the moment, Gbagbo
continues to ridicule the UN in front of everyone. »

 

Sidiki Konaté, spokesman of
the Forces Nouvelles, Guest on ONUCI-FM: "postponement of the elections? No, it
is out of the question!"

Le Nouveau réveil

In the conclave's resolutions,
you affirm that you take note of the IEC's statement, according to which there
have been some failures in that institution. What are we supposed to understand
from this?

In the framework of our
exchanges, we listened enough to our representatives in the IEC. Somewhere there
has been a failure which paved the way for the beginning of this crisis. It is
appropriate that the IEC itself which acknowledged this failure analyzes
together with us the contours in order to make all the necessary internal
arrangements to avoid the repetition of this situation in the future.

This situation raises concerns
within the Forces Nouvelles since you point out consequences on the electoral
timetable. Therefore are we heading for a postponement of the elections?

No, it is out of the question.
We simply note the fact that for the past three weeks there has been debates
here and there stemming from this internal cross-checking which was finally made
public and has slightly affected the process. If we continue these debates, we
will be obliged to review the deadlines agreed during the last CPC held in Ouaga
to reach the date of the elections. 

You affirm your support to the
IEC members. Does it mean that the chairman Beugré Mambé will not resign?

We consider that today, the
achievements must be safeguarded. This incident should not be used to add other
demands which can block the process. [...]

The security aspect was also
discussed during the conclave. On this issue we recall that you question the
contents of UNOCI's report to the Security Council.

It is good for us that very
early on, we call on Mr. Choi to highlight the achievements. We are going to
meet with him, we will show him that there have been achievements, significant
progress with regard to the reunification of the country, significant progress
with regard to the military issue and that these achievements must be encouraged
instead of stressing other failures, which are non-existent for us. [...]" 

 

Air time at RTI: when the CNCA
mocks Ivorians

Le Patriote  -
"The opposition has more time on television at the RTI. This is what the
National Council of Communication and Audiovisual says in its latest quarterly
report. The CNCA gives 18.80% to the FPI against 25.18 for the RDR, 19.49% for
the PDCI-RDA and 10.6% for UDPCI. This is just for the four biggest political
parties; statistics which are obviously reflecting manipulation and not at all
reality. Do they take Ivorians for idiots and make them believe that the RHDP
youth marched for no reason? Granted, Ivorians in general do not know the
criteria used by the group of Franck Anderson Kouassi to assess the air time
given to the political parties at the RTI. But at least, they know that its
access is far from equitable. [...]"