Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo has announced that national elections will be held in 2010. The West African state has been the center of civil war and factional unrest for the last decade.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
February 08 2010 at 12:27AM
By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa
Bouake, Ivory Coast - President Laurent Gbagbo has promised Ivory Coast will hold elections this year but after years of missed deadlines, rows and political turmoil, many of his war-weary citizens no longer believe him.
In Bouake, the main city of rebel-held Ivory Coast whose ruined buildings and potholed streets still bear witness to the war that carved the country in two, anger is growing.
"These elections will never, ever happen," said Diabi Bako, 30, a market trader selling books and shoulder bags in Bouake's trash-strewn, crowded back streets.
'He loses nothing by allowing obstacles to be created'
"Even if they give us another date, it'll just be the same thing. (Gbagbo) doesn't want elections, because he might lose."
The polls were meant to happen in 2005, but bickering over rebel disarmament and voter registration have set back date after date.
A row between Gbago and the electoral commission has made organising polls at the end of this month or in early March look all but impossible in the world's top cocoa grower.
Gbagbo last month accused the commission, which is led by an opposition politician, of trying to illegally add 430 000 disputed names to the voter list, although the commission says the leaked names were never intended to be on the final roll.
Opposition challengers Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie say Gbagbo is just stalling the process to extend his mandate, a charge he denies.
"There's a general lack of political will to allow the process to function smoothly," said Richard Moncrief, West Africa Director of the International Crisis Group.
"Gbagbo doesn't quite know if he'll win a fair election. He loses nothing by allowing obstacles to be created." - Reuters
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