Forlks,
      The political climate in Abidjan is now quite unpredictable.Is the
ivorian Supreme Court learning from the PAST?This is what most poltical
analyst are chewing over.Kindly please read this.



Abidjan Tense After Rejection Of Ouattara's Candidature

Panafrican News Agency

December 1, 2000

Mathieu Ekra
Abidjan

Tension was conspicuously rising beyond noon in the Ivorian capital after
the Supreme Court invalidated the candidature of Rally of Republican (RDR)
leader, Alassane Dramane Ouattara (ADO) for the 10 December parliamentary
elections.

The fear and tension, especially among the inhabitants of Abidjan stem from
the presence in the city, up to Friday afternoon, of about 500 traditional
hunters referred to as "dozos".

They have allegedly been recruited by RDR militants to cause trouble in the
aftermath of the rejection of Ouattara's candidature.

According to officially unverified sources, some dozos are said to have been
recruited in Katiola and Ferkessedougou (370 and 650 km north of Abidjan),
two localities situated in the RDR stronghold.

In fact, the traditional hunters, who were stationed in the northern region
of Cote d'Ivoire, had occupied the entire national territory to "fight
against the resurgence of banditism."

According to the 1999 official statistics, there are some 41,914 traditional
hunters in Cote d'Ivoire, 796 of whom being non-Ivorians and 32,608 guns,
859 of which are locally made.

"We are dismayed about the sudden presence of the dozos in Abidjan, because
now that Ouattara's candidature has been rejected, trouble is brewing", said
Mathias Koffi, militant of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI).

RDR militants who are awaiting for their leader's watchword (Ouattara is
presently in France) are gathered in front of the party headquarters in
Cocody, a chic Abidjan district.

Most of them are very bitter.

"We are prepared to die, even with our children, for justice to prevail over
the arbitrary," said one of them, determined as ever.

For Thierry Legre, President of the Alassane Dramane Ouattara Club (CADO)
and his party's candidate in the parliamentary elections for the Marcory
constituency, a working class Abidjan district, "the elections should be
boycotted".

"We are going to withdraw all the RDR candidates before occupying the
streets", Legre stressed.

Besides, it has been reported that "mercenaries supervised by a former
bodyguard of Gen. Robert Guei, are being trained in a neighbouring country
to topple the new regime."

The population, due to these threats and tensions hanging over Abidjan and
the other parts of the country, have stacked up foodstuffs while the Ivorian
army is taking the necessary measures to face up to any eventualities.

"We are here to buy food to prepare for the threat that is hanging over the
parliamentary elections, because anything can happen anytime," explained
Emilienne Brou, outside a supermarket at Plateau, the capital's main
business district.

However, President Laurent Gbagbo's government has "confined the army,
gendarme and police forces and alerted them to discretely reinforce the
sensitive points of Abidjan, in order to defend national territorial
integrity."

For the RDR militants, the national reconciliation advocated by the new
Ivorian authorities is not far from being a bitter failure.

RDR Secretary General, Henriette Dagri Diabate suggests that if the national
reconciliation programme is to succeed, "the recognition of all the
political rights of her leader" (Ouattara) should be imperative.

Gbagbo's government set up the National Reconciliation Committee to "restore
peace in Cote d'Ivoire."


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Copyright © 2000 Panafrican News Agency. Distributed by allAfrica.com. For
information about the content or for permission to redistribute, publish or
use for broadcast, contact the publisher.

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>From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: A Second e-mail from HILO
>Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 20:36:41 -0000
>
>Gambia-L:
>
>The unedited e-mail below is from HILO Gambia. It is sent to St John's
>University in the UN, and copied to me. It is signed one by Alan Collins,
>the company's "president". Enjoy reading it!
>
>Ebrima Ceesay
>Birmingham, UK
>
>__________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>Hilo Trading (Gambia) Ltd
>
>November 29, 2000
>
>Ms Julia Upton
>Provost
>St Johns University
>New York
>USA
>
>Via fax: 00 1 718 990 1894
>
>Dear Ms Upton,
>
>“GAMBIA-L” – MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>
>I did telephone you earlier today to discuss this matter but I had to be
>content with leaving a voicemail message.
>
>I am an American citizen (and, I might add a practising Catholic) currently
>living in The Gambia. I am the President of Hilo Trading (Gambia) Ltd,
>itself an offshoot of our USA operations, based in Atlanta.
>
>We are very much involved with the Groundnut business here within The
>Gambia
>and we have currently invested several US$ millions into the sub-sector.
>
>We have become aware of a group of Gambian dissidents operating out of the
>United Kingdom, fronted by an ‘Ebrima Ceesay’ from Birmingham, England.
>These dissidents are clearly utilising the website/server of St Johns
>University as evidenced by the attached e-mails. These ‘hate-mails’ are
>beginning to become, for us, quite tiresome. In addition, they have become
>increasingly threatening and increasingly paranoid.
>
>I am immensely concerned that all of the good work we are doing within The
>Gambia is being jeopardised by this roving ‘rag-bag’ of political
>activists.
>I am very worried that not only are our investments placed at risk but the
>ominous threat of Atlanta-based fanatics to ‘check’ us out is quite scary.
>
>I am well aware that recent developments within the USA have prompted
>Companies to ban personal e-mail use over their systems. Indeed, it has
>become an illegal offence and Companies may prosecute.
>November 29, 2000 – Page (2) – contd.,
>
>Ms J Upton – Provost
>St Johns University
>NY, USA – contd.,
>
>How much more dangerous and irresponsible, therefore, for a US educational
>institute to allow its facilities to be manipulated in the manner described
>and evidenced herein.
>
>I would very much welcome your prompt advice that you have looked into this
>matter and perhaps brought the culprits to light. I should like to know the
>steps taken, perhaps the first of which is to pinpoint those ‘students’
>from
>The Gambia presently attending any of the University’s campuses.
>
>I can assure you that I have brought this matter to the attention of the US
>Ambassador to The Gambia – George Haley – as well as to the attention of
>the
>highest authorities within the Government of The Gambia.
>
>I hope to have information from you by return detailing the steps you have
>taken to close this ‘unit’ of dissidents within St John’s.
>
>Yours very sincerely,
>
>
>Alan D Collins
>President
>
>Cc Information Technology – fax # 718 990 2002
>
>
>
>_____________________________________________________________________________________
>Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download :
>http://explorer.msn.com
>
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>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to
>[log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your
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