MEDIA REACTION: DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON COTE D'IVOIRE'S

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000250


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN SOCI PGOV PREL KPAO IV
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON COTE D'IVOIRE'S
HIPC COMMITMENTS AND ELECTIONS


1. Summary: Local press reported positively on the State
Department's March 30, 2009, press statement urging Cote d'Ivoire to
maintain its economic and political reform commitments under the
Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Most of
the dailies, including pro-government and pro-opposition outlets,
published the full text of the statement. Others highlighted
excerpts of the statement pressing the GOCI to commit to holding
elections in 2009 and to implement reform measures, especially in
fiscal discipline and transparency. Similar reports appeared on the
radio and on web sites of the local dailies and French News Agency
AFP. End Summary.


2. Between April 8 and April 10, the Department's statement was a
subject of front page stories in most Ivorian dailies. "Disarmament,
Elections in 2009 in Cote d'Ivoire: Barack Obama puts pressure on
the stakeholders," said a prominent story in Le Temps (a daily close
to the ruling FPI party),with a picture of President Obama,
juxtaposed with that of President Gbagbo on the front page. The
paper also published the full text of the statement.


3. Fraternite Matin (a state-owned daily),Le Patriote (a daily
close to the opposition RDR party),Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily
close to the opposition),L'inter (an independent daily) and
L'intelligent d'Abidjan also published the full text of the
statement. In a separate story, L'inter highlighted parts of the
communiqu, saying "The United States believes that long-delayed
presidential elections are still technically possible in 2009 and
calls on all parties to take every step necessary to ensure that
credible elections go forward as promised." The paper further noted
that the United States urged "the Government of Cote d'Ivoire to
re-commit itself to 2009 elections as a further demonstration of its
determination to put an end to the difficulties that the country has
faced since 2002."


4. "Washington calls for Cote d'Ivoire's presidential elections to
be held in 2009," said a story in Le Jour Plus (a daily close to the
opposition). Soir Info (an independent daily) noted that the
President of the United States is closely watching the situation in
Cote d'Ivoire. The paper said "Washington urged Cote d'Ivoire to
fully implement its reform measures, especially those related to
fiscal discipline and transparency."


5. The statement also received attention from many local radio
broadcasts and web sites. Radio Cote d'Ivoire - a state-run
Broadcasting Corporation; UNOCI FM -- the United Nations radio
station in Cote d'Ivoire; Radio Al Bayane - a local Moslem radio
station and other proximity radios based in Abidjan broadcast the
full text of the statement. The state-owned news agency (Agence
Ivoirienne de Press - AIP) published on its web site (www.aip.ci) a
story using quotations from the statement. "Debt Relief: The United
States exhorts the Ivorian government to implement its reform
measures related to fiscal discipline and transparency," said the
headline of the story with a picture of President Obama. The French
News Agency AFP published a story on the statement that was put on
the privately-owned www.abidjan.net web site. The news item, which
was entitled: "The Ivorian presidential elections are technically
possible in 2009, according to Washington," was picked up by many
local dailies.


6. On April 9, the dailies again carried commentaries in reaction to
the statement, emphasizing that France backs Washington's call for
presidential elections in 2009. With pictures of Presidents Barack
Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy on the front-page, Fraternite Matin (a
state-owned daily) carried a banner headline reading "2009
Presidential Elections: Pressure is mounting." It further
highlighted some quotes from the statement issued by the State
Department. "The United States believes that long-delayed
presidential elections are still technically possible in 2009 and
calls on all parties to take every step necessary to ensure that
credible elections go forward as promised," wrote the paper. It went
on to comment that this position of the world's most powerful State
now has support from France. Commenting on the same issue, Le
Patriote (a daily close to the opposition RDR party) carried a photo
of Presidents Obama and Sarkozy with a caption reading: "The two
presidents are monitoring closely the situation in Cote d'Ivoire."


7. L'inter (an independent daily) suggested that President Gbagbo
and his Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, find themselves in a tough
situation following calls from the United States and France for the
presidential elections to be held this year. The paper insinuated
that the wording "long-delayed presidential elections," used by the
United States in their statement, showed the level of "exasperation"
of this country about the delay of the polls.


8. In a commentary, L'intelligent d'Abidjan (an independent daily)
linked the State department's statement to "anti-Gbagbo lobbyists"
close to the World Bank and the IMF that have been pressing the
American President to work on the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire
more urgently.


9. Comment. While the Ivoirian media is not especially known for
its accurate reporting, the press statement nonetheless received a
lot of notice. It achieved its objective of increasing
international pressure on the government to organize credible
elections sooner rather than later. The government must now realize
that the HIPC decision alone will not bring laurels from its
population; it needs to take the real and necessary step of holding
elections in which all eligible voters can choose their next
president. End Comment.


NESBITT