R 201110Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5082

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