Côte d'Ivoire
Storm of protests against Government of Côte d'Ivoire

Misanet.com / afrol.com , 7 December - The Unites Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) will not assist in the Sunday parliamentary election following the disqualification of opposition leader Alassane Dramane Ouattara. Protests also come from South Africa and other countries.

The United Nations announced on Tuesday the suspension of its technical electoral assistance to Côte d'Ivoire's government. "The United Nations is of the view that the conditions are no longer conducive for the involvement of the United Nations in the forthcoming legislative elections in Côte d'Ivoire," a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement released in New York. 

According to the statement, the UN also plans to withdraw its offer to coordinate the activities of international observers, but plans to maintain the regular activities of UN agencies and programmes in the country. The statement called on all parties to "shun violence and favour dialogue so that calm will prevail in Côte d'Ivoire". 

On Monday, the European Union (EU) already had pulled back its electoral assistance to Côte d'Ivoire, after Sunday's barring of Ouattara by the Surpreme Court, saying the elections would not be free and fair. European countries are the main donors of Côte d'Ivoire.

On Wednesday the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) also said it had decided not to send observers to the polls. OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim announced the decision at a news conference in Addis Ababa that Annan also attended.

The Supreme Court move sparked protests on Monday and Tuesday by Ouattara's party, the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), and by people in Cote d'Ivoire's mainly Muslim north from where Ouattara draws much of his support. The RDR also withdrew from the election.

A number of people were killed in clashes this week between pro- and anti-RDR groups, and between demonstrators and security forces. The official death toll up to Tuesday was 13 while the RDR spoke of 30 dead. The Ivorian Red Cross told IRIN its first aid teams had treated 217 wounded persons in Abidjan, where the bulk of the violence was concentrated. 

The South African Government thus on Wednesday expressed concern over the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, condemning "the latest outbreak of political violence." Addressing the causes of the violence, Government spokesman Dumisani Rahelend said "the exclusion of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, last week, by the Ivorian Supreme Court as candidate in the forthcoming legislative elections has regrettably not contributed to achieving the high ideals of peace, prosperity, tolerance and true democracy the Côte d'Ivoire and its people so richly deserve."

"Algeria-like situation"
Ivorian Interior Minister Boga Doudou said on Tuesday in a televised statement that one policeman had been shot dead and two wounded in incidents in Abidjan while two policemen had sustained bullet wounds in the northern city of Korhogo. He did not give any civilian casualties. 

Boga Doudou said the security forces had repulsed an attack by armed men dressed like 'dozos' (traditional hunters from the north) in an area on the periphery of Abidjan and that weapons were found in a mosque in the low-income neighbourhood of Abobo.

He said the use of arms was new in Ivorian political life and wondered whether the RDR intended to seize power. "Does it want to use arms to take power?" he asked. "Does it want to lead us into an Algeria-like situation? If that is the case, then it should state this clearly to Ivorians." The minister said 22 people were arrested on Tuesday: 10 Ivorians, four Malians, four Burkinabes, three Guineans and one man from Niger. 

Others were also held on Monday, including a Burkinabe employed by a humanitarian worker who told IRIN he was detained on Monday afternoon as police picked up suspected RDR demonstrators. He said he was held for about seven hours at a police station.

Oppositional politicians arrested
A number of RDR officials were also arrested on Monday, including party spokesman Ali Coulibaly, as well as Jean-Philippe Kabore, the son of RDR Secretary-General Henriette Diabate. On Tuesday, Coulibaly read out a statement calling from an end to the protests from the headquarters of the gendarmerie. Doudou alleged that Coulibaly was held while distributing machetes to RDR militants and that Kabore was caught with weapons and teargas grenades. 

The deputy spokesman of the RDR, Aly Keita has expressed serious worries over the conditions of detained party officials, arrested since Monday. Keita charged Wednesday in Abidjan that President Laurent Gbagbo was directly "responsible for the lives" of the detained opposition politicians.

A footage on national television Tuesday night showed Jean-Philippe Kabore, eldest son of RDR secretary general Henriette Dagri Diabate, with a puffy face, one eye closed and visibly in bad shape, thus prompting worries among Alassane Ouattara's supporters and relatives of the detainees, PANA reported.

Abidjan calm
In Abidjan, life had gradually returned to normal during Wednesday evening and no serious incidents were reported in all the 10 communes of Côte d'Ivoire's business capital. Several witnesses affirmed that the last incident of violence, which occurred Tuesday night, was deliberately caused by the police and gendarmes who set fire to a car park located along Abobo road. One person was burnt to death in the inferno, which also destroyed 200 retail shops, rendering nearly 2,000 persons jobless. The orders to the attack on the Abidjan car park had been given by the Minister of Decentralisation, Boga Doudou.

Based on an article by IRIN

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