{"id":469215,"date":"2011-07-27T19:20:03","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T19:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/27\/ouattara-departs-for-u-s\/"},"modified":"2011-07-27T19:20:03","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T19:20:03","slug":"ouattara-departs-for-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/27\/ouattara-departs-for-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Ouattara Departs for U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"
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United States Embassy<\/a> (Abidjan)<\/p>\n

27 July 2011<\/p>\n

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The agenda of President Ouattara’s first official visit to New York and Washington is the subject of prominent headlines in the press a day after the Ivorian leader left Cote d’Ivoire for the United States. The dailies again comment on the nomination of Prof. Francis Wodie, a veteran Ivorian politician and academic, as the new president of Cote d’Ivoire’s Constitutional Council. The general political atmosphere in Cote d’Ivoire amid persistent rumors of a coup d’etat is the other major issue in the press.<\/em><\/p>\n

1. A prominent headline in the state-owned daily Fraternite Matin announces that Presidents Obama and Ouattara are scheduled to meet on Friday, according to an official statement issued yesterday in Abidjan. The agenda also includes a working breakfast with the Corporate Council for Africa (CCA), an American think-tank whose aim is to strengthen and facilitate commercial relations between the United States and the African continent. The president is also scheduled to meet members of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a sister organization to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and an independent U.S. foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty. President Ouattara, according to the agenda, will be having a series of meetings with officials from USAID, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, the director general of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde and a tete-a-tete with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon.<\/p>\n

2. On the Ivorian leader’s maiden visit to the United States as president, Le Patriote (a daily close to President Ouattara) carries a prominent headline saying, “Ouattara is moving and so is Cote d’Ivoire.” The paper also publishes on its front page pictures of world leaders, including the UN Secretary General, with another prominent headline saying, “Here are the world leaders Ouattara is set to meet in Obama’s country.” The paper also hints that the president will use his stature as an economist and a banker to press for World Bank and IMF support for Cote d’Ivoire’s economic recovery program. On Ouattara’s meeting with his American counterpart, the paper notes that Ouattara will be the second Ivorian leader to be received at the White House after the late Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Cote d’Ivoire’s first president.<\/p>\n

3. “Why has Ouattara become a globe trotter?” asks L’Intelligent d’Abidjan (an independent daily), which reports that President Ouattara is accompanied by his economic and finance minister, Charles Koffi Diby, his foreign affairs minister, Daniel Kablan Duncan and Albert Mabri Toikeusse, his planning and development minister. According to the paper, President Ouattara has travelled to the United States at the invitation of President Obama. The paper also suggests that Ouattara, whose ambition is to rebuild Cote d’Ivoire and fight poverty, is pushing hard to get the backing of the United States and the Bretton Woods institutions – the World Bank and the IMF. “Twelve decisive meetings at the top of the agenda, as Ouattara is set for a three-day visit to the United States,” says a front-page headline in Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the RHDP – a coalition supporting President Ouattara).<\/p>\n

4. Back home, the nomination of Prof. Francis Wodie, a veteran Ivorian politician and academic as the new president of Cote d’Ivoire’s Constitutional Council is again the subject of a front-page story in Notre Voie (a daily close to the former ruling FPI party) which denounces “a partisan choice.” According to the paper, Wodie is a “close associate” of President Ouattara, adding that from Felix Houphouet-Boigny’s presidency to Ouattara’s, the procedure leading to the choice of the head of the Constitutional Council has not changed: The president in power always appoints persons close to him. The paper carries on saying that it was a “hoax” when the new president of the Constitutional Council vowed: “We must restore honor and credibility to the Constitutional Council.” A separate article in this paper wonders whether President Ouattara will now appoint a new speaker for the National Assembly. In another article, the paper suggests that the former head of the Constitutional Council could be arrested as a group recently accused Paul Yao N’Dre of being responsible for the violence that swept across the country after the November 2010 presidential runoff.<\/p>\n

5. With a picture the former head of the Constitutional Council on its front page, Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to President Ouattara) carries a banner headline reading, “After his replacement, Yao N’Dre to be dragged to court.” The paper hints that he can be summoned at any time by the prosecutor and be charged with “breaching state security, attacking and plotting against authority, forming and participating in an armed gang, taking part in a revolt, breaching of public order, rebellion, usurpation, tribalism and xenophobia.” “Ouattara wants to put Yao N’Dre in jail,” says a prominent headline in Le Temps (a daily close to the former ruling FPI party), while another front-page headline in L’Intelligent d’Abidjan (an independent daily) says, “Yao N’Dre is in danger.”<\/p>\n

6. In another development, a front-page story in Le Nouveau Reveil (a daily close to the RHDP – a coalition supporting President Ouattara) says that Ivorians are gripped with fears, as rumors about a coup d’etat and attacks rage on. The paper also hints that Ivorian officials are expected today in Accra for a meeting with Ghanaian authorities. The article also suggests that the delegation will be meeting with Ivorian refugees in Ghana to discuss conditions for their return home. The security situation at the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border is also a major issue in Le Patriote (a daily close to President Ouattara) which quotes an Ivorian army official at the southern border town of Noe assuring the population that the army is on “alert”. A prominent headline in Le Jour Plus (a daily close to President Ouattara) speculates about subversive activities being organized along the frontier between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire by militiamen allegedly led by one Colonel Jean Noel Abehi, a soldier in the former Ivorian Defense and Security Forces, now on the run. A front-page story in Notre Voie (a daily close to the former ruling FPI party) says that 30 mercenaries belonging to the Forces Republicaines de Cote d’Ivoire, who allegedly tried to infiltrate the Ivorian refugees, were arrested in Ghana.<\/p>\n

7. Meanwhile, a prominent headline L’Expression (a daily close to President Ouattara) quotes an Ivorian top army officer warning that “whoever shoots is dead.” The paper also quotes a former Ivorian warlord telling supporters of the former regime “to stop dreaming.” With more on the security situation in Cote d’Ivoire, a banner headline in L’Inter (an independent daily) says that former combatants are angry. According to the paper, hundreds of fighters belonging to the New Forces – the former rebel movement – are crying foul and demanding to be reintegrated after they were disarmed. A front-page story in Nord-Sud Quotidien (a daily close to President Ouattara) announces that three months after Gbagbo was captured, the leadership of the New Forces will be meeting on Saturday in the central city of Bouake, their stronghold. According to the paper, the future of the former rebel movement will be high on the agenda.<\/p>\n

8. Notre Voie (a daily close to the former ruling FPI party) devotes its front page to a letter attributed to former President Laurent Gbagbo, who, according to the paper, supports the recent change of leadership in the former ruling FPI party. “Gbagbo talks to Ivorians,” says a banner headline in Le Temps (a daily close to the former ruling FPI party) which quotes the former president as saying, “I am committed to continue the battle.” L’Inter (an independent daily), which devotes its front page to Gbagbo’s alleged message, quotes his advisor, Alain Toussaint saying that “Gbagbo is in danger.”<\/p>\n

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\nOuattara Departs for U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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