IVORY COAST: President Alassane Ouattara sets inauguration date amid tight security
Record ID:
1538095
IVORY COAST: President Alassane Ouattara sets inauguration date amid tight security
- Title: IVORY COAST: President Alassane Ouattara sets inauguration date amid tight security
- Date: 29th April 2011
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (APRIL 28, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS GUARDING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VARIOUS OF IVORY COAST PRESIDENT ALASSANE OUATTARA ARRIVING AT PRESIDENTIAL PALACE, MORE OF U.N. SOLDIERS GUARDING OFFICIALS WAITING (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) OUATTARA SHAKING HANDS WITH OFFICIALS INSIDE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE (SOUNDBITE) (French) IVORY COAST PRESIDENT, ALASSANE OUATTARA, SAYING: "Our objective is to have the inauguration on the 21st of May in Yamoussoukro. But not all the work depends on us. I already called a few personalities, African and foreign, to tell them we would like them to be present." VARIOUS OF OUATTARA VISITING PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE VARIOUS OF OUATTARA VISITING CONFERENCE HALL YOPOUGON, ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (APRIL 28, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS FROM THE REPUBLICAN FORCES OF IVORY COAST (FRCI) STANDING AT THEIR FORMER HEADQUARTERS DURING THE ASSAULT ON ABIDJAN FRCI COMMANDER BIN LADEN TALKING TO A WOMAN MORE OF SOLDIERS STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRCI COMMANDER BIN LADEN, SAYING "We must say the fighting has stopped at the moment, because the militia have asked for a ceasefire with the aim to lay down arms. I think that very soon we will witness this ceremony, if they keep their word." PRISONERS SITTING ON THE GROUND AT PETROL STATION IN THEIR UNDERWEAR VARIOUS OF PRISONERS' NAMES BEING REGISTERED IN A BOOK VARIOUS OF PRISONERS SITTING ON THE GROUND GUARDED BY FRCI SOLDIER (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRCI COMMANDER BIN LADEN, SAYING: "I'm telling you, in the next 48 hours Yopougon [town in ivory coast] definitely will be freed." VARIOUS OF FRCI SOLDIERS STANDING IN PETROL STATION VARIOUS OF BIN LADEN TALKING TO FRCI SOLDIERS ABOUT THE OPERATION TO DISARM YOPOUGON FRCI SOLDIERS STANDING IN PETROL STATION
- Embargoed: 14th May 2011 00:41
- Keywords:
- Location: Cote d'Ivoire
- Country: Cote d'Ivoire
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3OLDKWGBEBG8UP9P8YJT33988
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Ivory Coast's president Alassane Ouattara visited the presidential palace in Abidjan amid tight United Nations security on Thursday (April 28) to check the progress of work on the building ahead of his inauguration next month.
Heavy fighting and looting left the presidential palace part-destroyed.
Ex-president Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down after a disputed November 2010 election triggered fierce fighting in the country's economic capital Abidjan.
Gbagbo was later arrested at a bunker in his home.
The arrest of Gbagbo in a French and U.N.-backed raid on his residence by pro-Ouattara forces brought the prospect of peace closer, but the new president has had to tackle pro-Gbagbo militia holding out in parts of Abidjan as well as divisions within his own ranks.
"Our objective is to have the inauguration on the 21st of May in Yamoussoukro. But not all the work depends on us. I already called a few personalities, African and foreign, to tell them we would like them to be present," Ouattara said as he visited the palace.
The infighting reached a peak on Wednesday (April 27) with the killing of Ibrahim Coulibaly, who was known as 'IB' and had led the initial attacks on Gbagbo's forces in Abidjan before he clashed with Ouattara's military supporters in a resurgence of long-time rivalries between former rebels who backed Ouattara.
There has been constant fighting for a week in the neighbourhood of Yopougon, a long-time Gbagbo stronghold, as Gbagbo supporters - the Young Patriots - who were armed with AK-47s, have yet to put down their weapons.
"We must say the fighting has stopped at the moment, because the militia have asked for a ceasefire with the aim to lay down arms. I think that very soon we will witness this ceremony, if they keep their word," said a leader of a division of Ouattara's Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI), who calls himself Commander Bin Laden.
"I'm telling you, in the next 48 hours Yopougon definitely will be freed," he said.
Gbagbo, his wife Simone and dozens of close associates are under house arrest at various locations around the country.
Ouattara's government said on Wednesday (April 27) Gbagbo would face charges of human rights abuses. French radio RFI quoted prosecutors as saying the charges would be linked to violence after the disputed election, in which dozens of opposition protesters were killed in clashes with his security forces.
ENDS. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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