UNOCI pays
royalties of more than 168 million francs CFA to BURIDA

L'Intelligent
d'Abidjan  –
The Special Representative of the United Nations
Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, on Tuesday in Abidjan, handed
over two cheques amounting to 168,565,759 francs CFA to the director-general of
the Bureau Ivoirien du Droit d'Auteur (BURIDA), Barouan Michel Bertin, for
royalties owed to Ivorian artists. "Now we are going to work without debt in
order to contribute to artists' fulfillment and promote the creativity of
Ivorians at the same time", Mr. Choi said during the ceremony, which was held at
the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). For
his part, Mr. Barouan said BURIDA was satisfied with the gesture. "You promised
to pay these charges and you kept your promise", the DG of BURIDA noted. Mr.
Barouan said that the payment of the royalties which he described as a civic
action, will contribute to putting an end to the insecure situation of the
artists. He, then, thanked UNOCI for all the actions it had carried out to
create a peaceful electoral environment in Côte d'Ivoire and gave the assurance
that Ivorian artists stood ready to support the mission by accompanying it in
the search for peace. (...)

For fixing the
date for elections – Bédié, Ouattara and Soro at Gbagbo's office tonight

Notre Voie  –
The Ivorian direct dialogue initiated by President Gbagbo is ongoing. Today from
5.00 PM, the Head of State is meeting Henri Konan Bédié, Alassane Ouattara and
Guillaume Soro in his office. The Chairmen of the PDCI-RDA, the RDR and the
Prime Minister, leader of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement will be received
with the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Youssouf Bakayoko, as
well as the Special Representatives of the UN Secretary-General and the
Burkinabé Facilitator in the inter-Ivorian dialogue. According to information
confirmed by the State protocol, the topic that will be discussed is the
production of the timetable for the forthcoming elections in Côte d'Ivoire. Our
source gave no information on proposals for a date. (...)

Creation of a parliamentary
hearing committee - Koulibaly has written a letter to the Minister of Justice

Notre Voie
 - The procedure for the
creation of a parliamentary hearing committee, on certain issues that have been
the headline of the press these days, was launched yesterday with the Conference
of the presidents of the National Assembly. According to the president of that
institution, Professor Mamadou Koulibaly, the conference made four proposals
that could lead to the creation of a parliamentary hearing committee. "These
resolutions were made by the parliamentary groups of PDCI, UDPCI, Solidarity and
FPI", President Mamadou Koulibaly said. He also stated that the mission of the
Conference of presidents was to discuss the admissibility of these proposals and
submit them to the permanent and technical committees. According to the
president of the Ivorian parliament, "the Committee of Social and Cultural
Affairs was in charge of three resolutions dealing with fraud at the National
Police School, the School of Administration and the gendarmerie. The Economic
and Finance Committee of will work on the trafficking of diamonds, gold and
cocoa in CNO areas, the cellular phones and urban land in Abidjan. Once these
committees have completed their work, the technical committees could fairly
discuss the substance of the issues. "Only the technical committees could say
whether or not the hearing committees should be created." (...)

Sit-in planned in front of the
local Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)

L'Inter
 - Loukou Jeannot, a member of
the Coalition for Change (CPC) and a speaker from the Universities of Leisure
(UTL) told us yesterday that his organization has planned a sit-in in front of
local IECs on Saturday, 3 July. In Abidjan, he said, his activists will gather
in Koumassi at Inchallah square, in Abobo they will gather at the old Town hall,
in Adjamé they will demonstrate in front of the maternity hospital and in Anyama
they will gather before the local IEC headquarter. (...) According to Mr.
Loukou, Ivorians must be vigilant and remain focus on the holding of the
presidential election instead of being diverted from the real issues by an
investigation whose objective was to delay the electoral process.

Strike at the CNSI / Alain
Lobognon reassures: "The money is available"

Nord Sud
 – Agents of  the National
Commission for the Supervision of the Identification (CNSI) on Monday, in
Séguéla, began a strike to demand payment of two months allowances arrears.
(...) In this regard, the first Vice President of the CNSI, Alain Lobognon
decided to reassure them: "The money is available for several months," he said.
According to him the non-payment of these arrears was due to the Ivorian
government (...)