ICoast-politics
   I Coast opposition leader accuses govt of intimidation, dictatorship

   PARIS, Sept 20 (AFP) - Leading Ivorian opposition figure Alassane
Ouattara
has accused the military government of intimidation and dictatorship ahead
of
presidential elections due next month, a French newspaper reported
Wednesday.
   "This is a regime that curtails freedom of expression, of association,"
Ouattara, a presidential hopeful in October 22 polls, said in an interview
with the daily Liberation.
   "I have not been able to leave the country for nine months...." said the
politician, who is suspected by military authorities of being behind an
alleged assassination attempt Monday on the head of Ivory Coast's junta,
General Robert Guei.
   Guei is also running for president.
   During the interview, Ouattara accused the regime of being a
"dictatorship", echoing recent comments he made on French radio.
   Ivory Coast, once a bastion of political and economic stability, is now
festering with unrest. Increasing ethnic divisions, a surprise coup in
December and at least three military uprisings against the junta since then
have exacerbated tensions and caused investment and foreign aid to dry up.
   Ouattara, a former prime minister, is at the centre of a bitter
nationality
debate. His opponents claim he is not Ivorian but Burkinabe, and that he
has
used Burkinabe citizenship to further his career.
   Following an interview Friday with Radio France International, Ouattara
said the army arrived at his home in Abidjan in "three armoured vehicles."
   The soldiers, he said, were armed with rocket launchers and stayed for
about 40 minutes, as a "measure of intimidation."
   Guei meanwhile gave a vitriolic speech against Ouattara, and vowed to
take
severe action against him.
   Ouattara has accused Guei -- who escaped the alleged assassination
attempt
unharmed on Monday -- of using the same tactics against his opponents as
ousted president Henri Konan Bedie.
   "Today, General Guei, as Bedie did before, is trying to fabricate
something
against me so that I cannot run (in polls). Unfortunately for them, despite
all these lies, I am still in a position to win the election," said
Ouattara,
leader of the Rally of Republicans party.
   In July, in a move seen as a direct attack against Ouattara, the junta
passed a referendum tightening eligibility requirements for candidates,
saying
that both parents of candidates had to be Ivorian and no candidate should
have
availed himself of any other nationality.
   The Constitutional Court is due to rule on the eligibility issue on
October
7.
   Ouattara said Guei's decision to name one of his former top advisors to
the
Supreme Court, meant that he was trying to eliminate heavy contenders from
the
high-stakes vote.
    jlr/nb

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