- Cote d'Ivoire has given a definite date for the holding of the presidential elections, with Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, confirming 29 November as the day, reports have said.
The announcement of the date comes after numerous calls from the United Nations and other international players, for a concrete election time-table in Cote d'Ivoire.
Late last month, the Ivorian ambassador to the UN, Ilahiri A. Djedje had said elections are expected by 6 December 2009, assuring the UN Security Council, that the peace process in Cote d' Ivoire was not stalling.
He also told the council that all the signatories to the Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA), signed in 2007, had agreed to hold elections before the end of the year.
The Ivorian polls have stalled since October 2005 due to a division between the rebel north and government-controlled south, separated by a buffer zone patrolled by UN and French peacekeepers.
Earlier this month, the former Ivorian rebels also called on their leader, Mr Soro, to quit the prime minister’s post and distance himself from the government, after accusing the government of stalling the processes leading to elections as prescribed in the peace agreement in 2007.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
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afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.