Ivory Coast Dissolves Government As Opposition Rallies Youths To Streets

PHOTO: IVORIAN PRESIDENT LAURENT GBAGBO.

San Francisco Feb 13, (THEWILL) – Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo on Friday evening dissolved his government and the electoral commission over disagreements with voters registration casting doubt on when the country’s four-year overdue election will happen.

The president’s action, which the opposition has questioned, has set the stage for a major confrontation between opposition protesters and government.

A youth leader for opposition party, Ivory Coast Democratic Party urged supporters to take to the streets and burn tyres, "Youths of Ivory Coast, wake up! We ask you to descend on the streets and burn tyres to show your dissatisfaction. You have to act now.

"We must occupy the streets of Abidjan and the country, in presence of the police and army," Konan Bertin said.

Ivory Coast election is important because it would end the countries instability that has left the north in the hands of rebels.

Residents of Abidjan had feared and rushed indoors early after work fearing violence might erupt, leaving the usually bubbling streets and bars mostly deserted all night.

Arsene Yao, a mechanic told Reuters: I’m really scared, there’s going to be more violence and everything’s going to burn. I can’t imagine what the president was thinking.”

Rioters torched a government building in western Ivory Coast on Tuesday over voter registration disagreements.

Mr. Gbagbo has accused the electoral commission chaired by Robert Mambe, a member of an opposition party of fraudulently trying to add more than 420,000 voters to the electoral register who are mostly from ethnic groups in the north that may not cast their votes for Gbagbo.

But newspapers and opposition parties have questioned his powers to dissolve the electoral commission.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has been asked to form a new government but replacing the electoral commissioner may take a longer process, as all the parties will have to agree on an acceptable person.

WHAT GBAGBO SAID

"I want a government that serves the interests of the Ivorian people and not the orders of political parties.

"The mission of this new government will be, under the authority of the president and the prime minister, to complete the final actions necessary to bring Ivory Coast out of its political crisis,” the president said in a recorded message.

Gbagbo was elected for a five-year term in October 2000. The last scheduled date for elections was November 29, 2009.