A robber is a robber is a robber. Who is surprised by cote'ivoire post ivory war! May the innocent be spared. Karl >From: USA Halal Chamber of Commerce <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Cote' ivoire >Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 12:06:30 -0700 > >fyi > >FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS INTERNATIONAL > > > OCTOBER 24, 11:21 EDT > > Junta Leader Says He Won Election > > By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS > Associated Press Writer > > ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Junta leader Gen. Robert Guei dissolved the >commission > overseeing Ivory Coast's presidential elections and declared himself >the winner, a senior > Interior Ministry official said Tuesday. > > Daniel Bamba Sheik, director-general of the Interior Ministry's >territorial administration > department, said Guei took 52.72 percent of Sunday's vote compared with >41.02 for > opposition leader Laurent Gbagbo. > > Gbagbo's party had earlier claimed the opposition leader had won, and >his aides said party > supporters planned to march in protest later Tuesday through Abidjan, >the commercial > capital. > > Sunday's vote was to decide the future of this West African country, >which saw its > reputation as a bastion of regional calm destroyed in the December coup >d'etat that brought > Guei to power. > > Bamba Sheik blamed massive fraud and the incompetence of electoral >officials for the decision > to disband the commission overseeing the vote. > > He accused several parties, including Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front, >of busing voters from > Abidjan to villages in the interior in order to vote twice. > > Bamba Sheik claimed only 3.6 million voters had been registered for the >vote, down from the > 5.5 million announced by the commission before the ballot. Some 153,000 >votes were nullified, > he added. > > Electoral commission officials were not immediately available for >comment and those seen > earlier in the day were escorted by armed security personnel and not >allowed to talk to > journalists. > > Following Tuesday's announcement, the streets of downtown Abidjan were >virtually empty > except for security personnel wearing riot gear. > > The vote was controversial from the beginning. The nation's two largest >political parties > boycotted the ballot after their leaders were barred from running by >the Supreme Court. > Gbagbo was the only political heavyweight allowed to run against the >junta leader. > > Preliminary results released around midday Monday — reflecting just a >fraction of the vote — > showed Gbagbo with an edge over Guei. Since then, however, vote >counting appeared to > have stopped, European Union officials said, speaking on condition of >anonymity. > > Before counting was interrupted, Gbagbo had 51.35 percent of the >126,683 ballots counted, > compared to 40.40 percent for Guei, national electoral commission >president Honore Guie said > Monday. > > Gbagbo's party claimed its own count showed it leading with 61 percent >to 25 percent for > Guei with 1.1 million votes counted. > > A representative of Gbagbo's party had earlier asked Guei to accept >defeat. > > ``In developed countries, the loser recognizes his defeat ... even when >the official results > are not completely available,'' said Gbagbo's campaign manager, Afi >Nguessan. > > In an interview broadcast on Europe 1 radio, Gbagbo urged Guei to >``hand over power'' and > said army soldiers were also advising the military ruler to do so. > > However, some soldiers said Guei had given unspecified orders to troops >late Monday to > ``calm the population.'' > > On Monday, soldiers deployed throughout Abidjan after groups of >jubilant Gbagbo (pronounced > BAHG-bo) supporters paraded through the streets in parts of Abidjan and >other cities. > Soldiers used tear gas to break up a rally of Gbagbo demonstrators. > > A senior junta member, Communications Minister Henri Cesar Sama, warned >Gbagbo's > supporters to cease their celebrations, calling the jubilation >``premature.'' > > The United Nations, the Organization of African Unity, the European >Union and countries such > as the United States and Canada withdrew election observers or funding, >saying the exclusion > of major opponents made a free and fair election impossible. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >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. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. 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