Poorer, unstable and divided, Ivory Coast goes to the polls by Caspar Leighton ABIDJAN, Oct 18 (AFP) - Ivory Coast is set to elect a new president on Sunday after 10 months of military rule that has seen the country become poorer, more divided and more unstable. When General Robert Guei came to power in a December 24 military coup, the toppling of the unpopular but elected regime of Henri Konan Bedie was internationally condemned, with the result that foreign aid all but dried up. An already struggling economy is now looking sicklier than ever. At the beginning of the month, Ivorian Finance Minister Mamadou Koulibaly warned that the country would have difficulty in meeting debt repayments over the coming three months. "We need 120 billion CFA francs (162 million dollars) to pay civil servants, to pay for the elections and for debt repayments, we have only 60 billion (81 million dollars)," declared Koulibaly. "We were supposed to pay roughly 800 billion CFA francs (one billion dollars) external debt this year, we have made a great effort and have paid 230 billion (310 million dollars)," said the minister. Koulibaly said the Ivorian economy was "in a disastrous situation" at the time of the December coup and that while the regime had improved receipts and cut spending, there had been no outside help. Confidence of outside investors has taken a knock, with a major and immediate casualty of the coup being the indefinite suspension of a project by French construction giant Bouygues to build a third bridge across the Abidjan lagoon. An indisciplined and divided army has added to the climate of instability, with the finance minister admitting that any re-emerging investor confidence was quashed by the mutiny of July 4-5, when disgruntled soldiers took to the streets, shooting and looting in pursuit of a pay claim. No precise figures were given, but the finance minister projected negative growth for 2000. Another negative development has been the growth of nationalism, in a country where one in three inhabitants is of foreign origin. Ousted president Bedie started talking about "Ivorianness" during the 1995 election campaign. It was adopted as a weapon against his political rival Alassane Ouattara, leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) who is accused by adversaries of being from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast's northern neighbour. Since the coup, nationalist rhetoric has become common currency and lately an election campaign tool, with even the socialist Laurent Gbagbo jumping on the bandwagon to attack his rivals. The Supreme Court ruling of October 6 that disqualified 14 of 19 presidential hopefuls including Ouattara and all candidates of the dominant Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) was a blow not only against democracy but against the Muslim north, as all five northern candidates were barred. The divide between a poor Muslim north and a relatively rich predominantly Christian south is set to grow with this election. The increase in nationalist rhetoric from politicians has seen an increase in ethnic violence, with 18 people dying since August in fighting between the indigenous population and Burkina Faso immigrants in the south west of the country. When Guei launched his presidential campaign last week it was peppered with nationalist sentiment and the crowd roared their approval. The general went so far as to threaten foreigners who talk about "exclusionism" in Ivory Coast with reprisals against their compatriots living in the country. Since the Supreme Court ruling, all seems in place for Guei to be elected president, which would be a triumph for nationalism, militarism and a likely continuation of Ivory Coast's economic isolation. crl/bm _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------