Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has told unions and civil society organizations that the electoral roll will help resolve the issue of identity and nationality in Cote d’Ivoire, the crux of the debate over the crisis of September 19, 2002 which divided the country in two.
“The process that emanated from the Ouagadougou agreement that we are leading cannot be implemented to exclude anybody. This process is transparent and fair” Soro said at an informational meeting on the electoral process with the unions and civil society organizations.
“What we want to achieve is to have a list of qualified voters for our country which will not only be used for the elections, but also to clean up the issue of national identity cards”, he added.
But much better, the Premier said, “by talking with the Minister of Justice, the electoral roll will be a dedicated list and the Minister of Justice sees it as a document of proof for Ivorian nationality”.
“So you see that our ambitions are beyond the elections. When you have so much an ambition, you are required to devote all due care that such an operation requires”, said Guillaume Soro.
For him, “it is true that it may be late by one week, two weeks, or perhaps one month, I do not know”.
“But when you think of the state of Cote-d’Ivoire and the nation and see the ambitions that we set ourselves, we may wonder what the matter can be in taking one or two more weeks to achieve such an ambitious program that will settle not only the issue of the election but also the issue of identity and nationality in Cote-d’Ivoire”, Guillaume Soro explained.
The Prime Minister also said these are “too sensitive, too delicate and complex issues” that would have taken other countries years and years of work.
“We’re getting at it ; we are so close”, Mr. Soro reassured.
Of the nearly 6.4 million people identified, a list of more than 2.7 million could not be matched with any history file, thus bringing doubt about their fate.
Source African Press Agency
