by Herve Rouach
PARIS, July 25 (AFP) - France warned Ivory Coast Tuesday against
excluding
candidates from a high-stakes presidential poll, after the junta tightened
eligibility requirements that could bar opposition leader Alassane Ouattara
from the race.
On the heels of a referendum seen as the first step towards restoring
civilian rule in Ivory Coast, French Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin
called on Ivorians to avoid engaging in ethnically divisive politics in a
nation long considered to be one of the most stable and prosperous in
Africa.
"There should be no artificial exclusion of any candidate. So that
Ivorians
can exercise their freedom of choice, each of the parties must present a
candidate," Josselin told a press conference in Paris, in a clear reference
to
Ouattara, head of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) party.
But Josselin, who said the referendum was a welcome step in the
country's
democratic process, said it would be unwise for junta leader General Robert
Guei, who has left the electorate guessing as to whether he will run in
presidential elections slated for September 17, to put his name on the
ballot.
"Democracy and the (military) uniform make for bad partners," Josselin
said, adding: "Good candidates are those who are supported by political
parties."
On Sunday, residents of the west African nation, a former French colony,
voted on a draft constitution which included contentious clauses
stipulating
that both parents of presidential candidates must be Ivorian and that
candidates "must never have availed" themselves of another nationality.
Ouattara won a scholarship to study in the United States and worked at
the
Central Bank of West African States as a national of Burkina Faso, Ivory
Coast's northern neighbour.
Ouattara's opponents contend that he is not Ivorian, and that his father
and paternal grandmother were from Burkina Faso.
Critics have accused the junta led by Guei of stirring up anti-foreign
sentiment, which in part was responsible for the ouster of president Henri
Konan Bedie in December.
Before being toppled, Bedie and his political entourage waged an intense
campaign against Ouattara, accusing him of forging his identity papers and
of
not being Ivorian.
Ouattara has insisted that both his parents were born in Ivory Coast.
During Tuesday's press conference, Josselin pointed out that Ouattara,
who
says he meets the eligibility requirements for running, had urged his
supporters to vote in favour in the referendum.
The issue of "Ivoirity" -- being a true-blood Ivorian -- has for many
years
poisoned political debate in Ivory Coast, where more than a third of the
population is foreign, residents once credited with helping to build the
nation.
Since independence from France in 1960, Ivorian politics has been
largely
controlled by Christian southerners.
France fears that the renewed polemic over nationality -- and the
possible
elimination of Ouattara, a Muslim, as a candidate -- will inflame
passionate
divisions in a country rich with 60 ethnic communities and followers of the
Christian, Muslim and Animist faiths.
"I would not like events before us to give rise to tension or violence
between communities who live in Ivory Coast," Josselin said.
hr/jlr/sst
Sidi Sanneh
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