Gambia-L

An article by Stephane Orjollet for Agence France Presse

ABIDJAN, Jan 22 (AFP)- One month after Cote d'Ivoire's junta seized power
in a bloodless coup, an interim government it formed with ex-opposition
parties has promised a constitutional referendum but shied away from
announcing an election date.
 After overthrowing the regime of President Henri Konan Bedie on December
24, the junta moved quickly to form a transition government with leading
opposition parties, namely the centre-right Rally of Republicans (RDR) and
socialist Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).
 On Friday, it annouced that a constitutional referendum would be held in
April, and that a 27-member committee would begin right away to draw up a
new
 constitutional and electoral laws.
 But Cote d'Ivoire's new strongman General Robert Guei flouted
international appeals and carefully avoided announcing a much-anticipated
date for presidential polls, saying instead the April referendum would
"open the way for presidential, legislative and municipal elections."
 Guei, who said he was handpicked by mutineers to represent them on
December 23, claimed Bedie was leading the country toward civil war.
 Privately, members of the new government have spoken of elections being
staged in June, a date recommended by the Organisation of African Unity
(OAU).
 The former Cote d'Ivoire Democratic Party (PDCI), which ruled for four
straight decades, had announced presidential polls for October.
 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) raised the ante
last Sunday after indicating that Guei would announce a date for elections
within three days.  T
he move seemed only to further irritate junta members
who became singularly silent about the matter.
 "We have the impression that they are trying to twist our arm.  But we
have our pride and Cote d'Ivoire is not just any other country in the
region," said a member of Guei's entourage.
 "And if we announced a date and then could not hold to it, what would
everyone say then?" he asked.
 Meanwhile, political jockeying has begun in earnest.
 After its 40-year reign, the humitiated PDCI remains divided between old-
time "authentic" members and more progressive "reformists".  as the party
continues to wranle over its future, its former electorate is up for grabs.
 The RDR led by Alassane Ouattara and the FPI led by Laurent Gbagbo, who
hadpreviously formed a loose alliance against the former PDCI, now appear
to be in open competition.
 Gbagbo initially pulled out of Guei's transition government, sayi
ng too
many important portfolios had been awarded to the RDR.
 "If it is an RDR coup d'etat they should tell us," FPI leader Laurent
Gbagbo declared in early January, in a statement that resonated across the
country and abroad.
 The FPI then rejoined the government after managing to secure control of
two further cabimet portfolios, the ministry of industry and tourism along
with the budget ministry.
 A political struggle is also being waged across ethnic and religious
lines. Gbagbo, a christian from the Bete ethnic group from western Cote
d'Ivoire, has been travelling to villages populated by ethnic Baoule, to
which Bedie belonged and whose members have held the majority of political
power in the country since independence from France in 1960.
 For hios part, Ouattara, a Muslim, has tried to shed his image of being "a
man from the north."  Instead he has preferred to portray himself as a
"Houp
houetist," a supporter of the late, popular President Felix Houphouet-
Boigny.
 Newspapers supporting Gbagbo and Ouattara have also changed their tone and
are waging new competitive campaigns ahead of future elections.
 Once friendly to the other's political leaders, the FPI's Notre Voie and
the RDR's Le Patriote now hurl daily insults and accusations against rival
candidates.
 The wildcard in Cote d'Ivoire current political landscape has proven to be
General Guei himself, who has so far refused to announce whether he will
run as president in democratic elections.

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