Ivory Coast opposition to join new unity government Cote d’Ivoire sets up new government

Cote d’Ivoire authorities announced last week the establishment of a new government to relieve the country from the dangerous crisis, which has threatened all the hard-won gains in recent years in the peace process.
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro presented his new cabinet of 27 ministers against 33 of the governing team dissolved 11 days ago.
According to a decree read by the secretary general of the presidential office, Amedee Couassi-Ble, 16 portfolios are already designated while the remaining 11 posts are yet to be assumed.
The new lineup includes Defense Minister Amani N’guessan Michel, Interior Minister Tagro Assegnini Desire, Justice Minister Kone Mamadou, Economy Minister Diby Koffi Charles, Communication Minister Sy Savane Ibrahim and Education Minister Bleu-Laine Gilbert.

The vacancies include the portfolios of foreign affairs, agriculture, commerce, transports, environment and culture.
The forming of the new government marked a breakthrough in the political impasse over the voter list controversy, which has caused a setback on the West African country’s electoral process.
Cote d’Ivoire’s presidential elections were postponed to late April and early May as a result. A new electoral commission was expected last Thursday.
The originally planned elections between late February and early March were derailed amid tensions sparked by President Laurent Gbagbo’s decision to dissolve the government and the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on Feb. 12.
The presidential camp accused the CEI chief of putting suspected names on the voter list in favor of the ex-rebel New Forces (FN).
Several people have been killed and many others injured in days of protests sweeping through a number of cities in Cote d’Ivoire, including the economic capital of Abidjan and the political capital Yamoussoukro.
At the end of a two-day mediation, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, the facilitator of the peace process in Cote d’Ivoire, announced in Abidjan that the rival parties had “agreed to work together” for “the reconstitution of government” and the “preparation of elections.”
The planned presidential vote to end years of instability was based on a peace accord signed by Gbagbo and FN leader Soro in 2007, under which Soro was named the prime minister. The polls have been repeatedly postponed since 2005 at the expiry of Gbagbo’s tenure.
The UN peacekeeping operation in Cote d’Ivoire has urged all politicians to resolve the dispute and hold the elections in the first half of 2010.
Cote d’Ivoire plunged into a civil war after an attempted coup against Gbagbo in 2002. The country remains divided in the post- war period with the government controlling the south and the FN holding the north.
But the good news id that Opposition leaders in Ivory Coast have declared that they are ready to join a new unity government, ending a standoff that has threatened the country’s peace process.
This move  has followed apparently the President Laurent Gbagbo’s decision to appoint a new electoral commission.
The latest crisis began three weeks ago, when President Gbagbo dissolved the previous body, accusing it of fraud and being controlled by the opposition.
President Gbagbo’s decision led to deadly protests.
Early on Friday the 26 February, the authorities announced a new election commission, headed by a member of the opposition and tasked with preparing long-delayed elections.
Later senior opposition leader Alassane Ouattara told reporters that opposition groups had agreed to take the 11 seats reserved for them in the 27-member cabinet.
Mr Ouattara also said the opposition was “suspending all demonstrations”.
This came just two days after a new unity government was announced – the previous one had been sacked along with the electoral commission.
Voter registration has been at the heart of the dispute.
The presidential camp accused the previous electoral commission head, Robert Mambe, of fraudulently trying to add 429,000 names to the electoral roll.
Observers made remarks that for the opposition, the selection of the commission’s head was key to bringing stability after protests in which at least seven people were killed.
Mr Mambe came from the opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI).
However the new head, Youssouf Bakayoko, also comes from the PDCI, though he will now have to abandon all political activity.
The new government includes almost all the same names as the previous government, and the independent electoral commission remains much the same.
No new date has been set for elections – although officials hope they can be held in April or May.

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