Presidential election: Yao
N'Dré/Choi: Who is going to certify the results?

Nord-Sud  -
At his Office on Thursday, Laurent Gbagbo gave his agreement for the signing of
the decree authorizing the distribution of national identity cards to the
Ivorians on the final voters list. "The law states that the national publishing
company must produce the ballot papers and reports. It must be done in
accordance with the law. (...)", Laurent Gbagbo said. (...)He is therefore opposed
to the opposition's political actors who believe that electoral documents must
be produced by foreign technical institutions. It would be deceiving oneself by
thinking that he will not have the same "love" for the Constitutional Council
(...)

The stance of Paul Yao-N'dré,
President of the Constitutional Council is clear: "UNOCI is not a judge to issue
the final decision. It is the Constitutional Council. UNOCI is a sensible
observer which should give appropriate answers to prevent contestation". (...)
Official sources in the Constitutional Council yesterday gave clarification on
the institution's scope of certification. It intervenes on electoral appeals
process, announces the results and submit the elected (the new President) to
take the oath. Hamadoun Touré, UNOCI's spokesperson: "UNOCI's has a
certification mandate and it will do it. To certify, we need the results; that
goes without saying. As long as we will not have results we will not be able to
certify". (...)

 

Presidential election – Y. J. Choi: « We identified nine major
challenges to be taken up before presidential election on 31 October"

www.afrikelection.com – The Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J.Choi, on
Tuesday held a working session with the Chairman of the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC). Together, they identified the challenges to be taken up one
month before presidential election. "Today, we identified nine major challenges
to be taken up before 31 October", said the Representative of the UN
Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J.Choi. He said that the United Nations
was attached to the organization of Ivorian presidential election. In this
regard, he considers that it is necessary to lift "all the obstacles to the
holding of elections". Nine "challenges" were identified. The distribution of
the identity and voters cards to about eleven millions of Ivorians. The success
of this operation requires a device including several structures: the IEC, ONI
and the Ministry of the Interior and the Prime Minister's office. Then, there is
the phase of electoral cartography which consists of the division of the
5,725,720 voters by polling stations and the signing of a decree fixing the
number of polling stations.
Another phase is the
deployment of the 66,000 electoral agents.
The agents have to be
identified, selected and trained. The following phase is to make the logistical
bases in Yamoussoukro and Abidjan function. Mr. Choi insisted on the election's
credibility. In this connection, he announced the participation of thousand
national and international observers. A working session with them will be held
this week, Mr. Choi said. There is the transportation of electoral material, the
creation of a centre for the calculation of elections results which is a
sensitive point that must be "well envisaged", and the adoption of the remaining
texts. Finally, for election security arrangements, UNOCI staff will work for
the process.

 

 

After meeting with ADO / Jean
Marc Simon (French Ambassador) – "We are going through the last phase"

Le Patriote  –
The French Ambassador yesterday met with the Chairman of the RDR at his
residence in Cocody. His Excellency Jean Marc Simon, at the end of the meeting
told journalists that he discussed the current national political events with
Doctor Alassane Dramane Ouattara.

Le Patriote:
You have just met with the Chairman of the RDR, what topics did you discuss with
him?

Jean Marc Simon:
We naturally addressed current political issues; especially the electoral
process which is advancing after the latest meeting of the Ivorian CPC and the
decree for the publication and approval of the final voters list. (...)

 

Electoral campaign – Guillaume
Soro calls on candidates to conduct "civilized" campaign

Le Patriote–
A civilized campaign. This is the desire of Prime Minister Guillaume Soro. After
civil society and the chiefs and kings of Côte d'Ivoire on Monday, yesterday the
candidates to presidential election who are not members of the CPC met with the
Prime Minister. It consisted of an information and exchange meeting, according
to Guillaume Soro. The Prime Minister's guests were informed of the evolution
and preparations of the first round of presidential election and the
government's will to take all measures for the effective holding of presidential
election on 31 October. (...) The tenant of the Prime Minister's office invited
the candidates to use peaceful words in their campaign. "Your duty is to conduct
peaceful campaign", he recalled. (...) The candidates also demanded the opening of
State media, guarantees for the security of candidates and their expenses as a
prelude to the presidential election which was postponed several times.  

 

Land property conflict:
immigrants and host communities are slaughtering each other with machetes

L'Inter  –
The district of Fresco was the
scene of a bloody confrontation between the Godié host community and the
Burkinabé immigrant population on Sunday 12 September 2010. Result: 24 serious
injured, one member of the host community is wanted. According to some
information, a land property conflict was the trigger. (...) on 12 September, the
Prefect of Fresco, Lida Gnako who was in the neighboring village (...) is
informed. He deployed on the ground his close protection gendarmes and some
elements of the Defence and Security Forces.
(...) The situation is
under control since Monday 13 September 2010. (...)

 

Arms traffic in USA – Colonel
Yao N'Guessan, military adviser to Amani N'Guessan arrested by the FBI

Le Nouveau Réveil  –
An Ivorian aged 55 who was illegally attempting to export arms from America was
arrested on Thursday by the FBI. The Ivorian press, yesterday, did not give
details on the quality or the mission of the suspect. But according to some
sources, Mr. Yao N'Guessan seems to belong to the close circle of the present
Minister of Defence, Michel Amani N'Guessan and is seemingly in the leadership
of the Military Provident Fund (FPM). 4,000 assault arms, 200,000 ammunitions,
50,000 offensive grenades, this is the brief description of the enormous war
arsenal that Mr. Yao N'Guessan was attempting to take to a country under arms
embargo since 2004 (...).

 

 

 

Lifting of UN sanctions
against Blé Goudé: African youth wing calls on UN authorities

Notre Voie  –
The African Youth for actions of Blé Goudé (JASA-BG) considers that it is high
time for the United Nations to lift the sanctions against Charles Blé Goudé, the
Chairman of the Pan-African Congress of Youths (COJEP). (...)