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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 302 covering 29 October - 4 November 2005

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

COTE D IVOIRE: Obasanjo flies in to try to break prime minister deadlock
CHAD: Deby dissolves presidential guard following wave of desertions
GUINEA-BISSAU: President appoints controversial new prime minister
LIBERIA: Sirleaf slams Weah for dodging face-to-face election debate
GUINEA: Opposition throws hat into ring for local elections
COTE D IVOIRE: What's in a name? A fight for identity

COTE D IVOIRE: Obasanjo flies in to try to break prime minister deadlock

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo flew in to Cote d'Ivoire on Friday for a whirlwind round of meetings to try to break the political deadlock over who should be the new prime minister and get the peace process moving again.

Peace-sealing elections were supposed to be have been held on 30 October to turn the page on three years of no war, no peace. But mediators and UN officials agreed that this was impossible because of the intransigence of the warring factions.

A UN Security Council resolution gave Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo another 12 months in office to work towards holding new elections and called for a new prime minister, who would be acceptable to all and have full authority over his cabinet.

The 15-nation body said it hoped the new head of government would be announced by the end of October, but November came with no decision in sight. And some diplomats said on Friday that, even with Obasanjo's visit, a quick fix was not on the cards.

"I am certain they won't find the new prime minister today," one western diplomat told IRIN. "Obasanjo's schedule is so tight that there is no time to get to the bottom of things."

Full report

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CHAD: Deby dissolves presidential guard following wave of desertions

Chadian President Idriss Deby has dismissed the 5,000-strong military unit acting as his presidential guard, days after the government failed to reel in scores of defecting soldiers who have regrouped in the volatile east of the country.

A presidential decree signed on Friday and released at the weekend declared: “The Republican Guard is dissolved. … All persons and equipment of the Republican Guard are to be reverted to the army.”

Analysts say the move is a sign that Deby has moved into survival mode.

"The decision to dissolve the [Republican Guard] hints at panic within the regime and suggests that Deby - a military strategist of some merit - has moved beyond damage limitation strategies into full-blown regime survival mode," said Chris Melville of the London-based research group Global Insight.

Full report

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GUINEA-BISSAU: President appoints controversial new prime minister

Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira appointed a long-time ally as prime minister, days after sacking the government of his political arch rival Carlos Gomes Junior.

Aristides Gomes, the mastermind behind the campaign that propelled Vieira to the presidency in July, was swiftly sworn into office on Wednesday and promised to mend political fences and the West African nation's ailing economy.

"I will form a government of national consensus that reflects all the country's political forces," Gomes told reporters after the ceremony.

The new prime minister pledged to work closely with the international community, a priority for the former Portuguese colony where foreign aid is needed just to pay state salaries.

But the choice of prime minister did not go down well with Gomes Junior's African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). And the current crisis has done little to dispel concerns among donors, who want to see political stability before they are once again willing to invest heavily in the world's sixth poorest country.

Full report

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LIBERIA: Sirleaf slams Weah for dodging face-to-face election debate

Presidential candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has rounded on her rival George Weah for shunning a live public debate with just a week to go until the run-off vote that will determine the next president of war-battered Liberia.

Weah, the soccer millionaire and political novice who won the most votes in the first round in October, is set to go head-to-head with Harvard-educated economist and veteran politician Sirleaf at the ballot box on 8 November.

But he has declined to take part in a face-to-face debate in Monrovia, scheduled for this week in front of a live audience of 700 people and due to be broadcast on local radio.

"How does Mr Weah expect to communicate his vision and agenda to international partners, ranging from development theorists to scientists, if he cannot talk to his nation and people about his plans to lead this country," Sirleaf's Unity Party said in a statement on Tuesday.

Full report

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GUINEA: Opposition throws hat into ring for local elections

Despite serious reservations, Guinea's main opposition coalition has said it will take part in December's municipal elections which are widely seen as a test of the country's democratic reform process.

"The (coalition) will participate in these elections while remaining convinced that there are no guarantees of fair play," Jean-Marie Dore, spokesman for the Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD), told a press conference on Saturday.

"But we intend to show the international community that we are committed to helping our country go forward," he said.

The declaration that FRAD would present a united front in the upcoming elections followed nearly two weeks of internal debate about how much progress the government had made on democratic reforms that both the opposition and the international community have demanded.

Full report

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COTE D IVOIRE: What's in a name? A fight for identity

"We needed a war because we needed our identity cards," explained rebel fighter Adama Traore, one of thousands of rebels who control the northern half of Cote d'Ivoire. "Without an
identity card you are nothing in this country."

The 23-year-old used to work with a local aid agency improving healthcare but he picked up a Kalashnikov when the war started three years ago to take up another more important service, he says -- the fight for equal rights for all Ivorians.

"We are badly treated. Plenty of northerners have been killed, beaten or given a hard time for nothing," he told IRIN near the rebel stronghold of Bouake, as he took a break from manning a checkpoint on the main road that runs south into government-controlled territory.

Identity is at the heart of the ongoing conflict in Cote d'Ivoire, the world's top cocoa producing nation and the economic power house of West Africa.

The problem is decades old and as well rooted as the cocoa trees that sprouted the nation's wealth. But it gained increasing political momentum in the 1990s. After the country's first and only successful coup in 1999, authorities stopped issuing identification cards altogether.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 316 covering 4-10 February 2006, 10/Feb/06

Africa’s poorest nations fight to ward off deadly bird flu, 9/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 315 covering 28 January – 3 February 2006, 3/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 314 covering 21-27 January 2006, 27/Jan/06

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Donors pledge support for humanitarian crisis, 21/Feb/06

ANGOLA: Ready to play larger security role in Africa, 21/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 270 for 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

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