Pathetic!!
Cheers,
Madiba.
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bbc world service
Thursday, October 28, 1999 Published at 16:19 GMT
World: Africa
Ivory Coast 'back to one-party rule'
Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators
An Ivory Coast opposition party says it fears a return to one-party rule
after several of its members were arrested during a rally on Wednesday.
Several leaders of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) party and a journalist
were arrested as police broke up the gathering, which came amid an
increasingly bitter dispute over the nationality of their presidential
candidate.
"These incidents attest to the fact that the government is determined at all
cost to violate all public freedoms and human rights," RDR spokesman Aly
Coulibaly said during a visit to Paris.
President Bedie: Accused of undermining democracy
"We have gone back to the single party system, the party state and a
doctrinaire approach to government," Mr Coulibaly said, in remarks broadcast
on Gabonese radio.
In the same news programme, Ivorian Communication Minister Danielle
Boni-Claverie expressed regret over the day's events - apologising in
particular for the arrest of journalist Nady Bamba.
But the minister insisted that "these arrests were not arrests in the true
sense of the word, because they took place at the demonstration venues and,
especially, because a rather overzealous police officer manhandled people".
Candidate loses citizenship
THe BBC's Mark Doyle in Abidjan reports on Wednesday's demonstration
The current crisis began when an Ivorian nationality certificate issued to
RDR leader Alassane Ouattara was cancelled, in a move which could prevent
him standing in presidential elections next year.
Mr Ouattara's citizenship was withdrawn
This week's demonstrations were in protest at alleged bias by state
television against Mr Ouattara, a former prime minister who is considered
the main challenger to President Henri Konan Bedie in elections due next
year.
Police blocked roads and dispersed the marchers with tea gas.
Smaller throngs of youths, many wearing T-shirts and caps with party
slogans, regrouped and counterattacked with stones and bottles.
In the early afternoon, about 20 RDR officials were bundled into several
armoured police vehicles and whisked away from the party headquarters where
sporadic clashes continued.
Eligibility
Mr Ouattara's supporters say President Henri Konan Bedie's government is
unnecessarily harassing their leader because of the increasing threat he
poses in next year's ballot.
Mr Ouattera, who has held senior positions in the International Monetary
Fund, is currently outside the country.
President Bedie says Mr Ouattara's father is from neighbouring Burkina Faso
and he is therefore not eligible to stand.
Mr Ouattara insists that both his parents were born in Ivory Coast and says
that he has the documents to prove it.
Forgery pressure
A judge, Zorro Ballo, who issued the Ivorian nationality certificate to Mr
Ouattara, says he had come under political pressure to say it was a forgery.
He said senior officials in the Ministry of Justice accused him of being a
rebel judge and of having been promised something by the opposition leader
in return for the Ivorian nationality document.
He insists that he has acted strictly within the law and that he has now
revealed the political pressure on him because he feels his professional
integrity is under threat.
In September, police arrested over 400 RDR supporters outside their leader's
home and detained them for 48 hours.
Government officials have accused the international press of stirring up
political tensions.
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