More Protests in Ivory Coast
Gbabgo reinstates three ministers implicated in the toxic scandal
President Laurent Gbagbo exerts his power as he continues to battle for authority with his interim prime minister in this small, divided nation.
Less than four months ago, a toxic waste scandal gripped the Ivory Coast and forced President Laurent Gbagbo to dismiss cabinet ministers who were found guilty of negligence. Their criminal irresponsibility caused the deaths of 10 people and over 100,000 to seek medical treatment in Abidjan, according to the Associated Press. In September, enraged protestors took to the streets, setting up blockades and burning tires in anger towards the government. In a similar scene on November 30, citizens have again expressed their outrage after the president announced on November 26 that he would reinstate three officials who had been suspended over the affair.
Interim Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny said he would fight the president's recent decisions. Gbagbo and Banny have had an unstable relationship since Banny was named to his post under a United Nations (U.N.) peace plan that was supposed to oversee elections in October. The vote has been postponed until September 2007 and the two men have been involved in a public dispute regarding the limits of the other's authority. Tension increased on November 28 when the president accused the interim prime minister of making "seditious" comments on air. For publicizing Banny's remarks, Gbagbo fired the heads of both the state-run newspaper and Radio Television Ivorienne.
Since a brief civil war from 2002 to 2003, the Ivory Coast has been divided between the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south. Plans to hold elections have been repeatedly delayed and President Gbagbo has added further complications by claiming that he will present a peace plan of his own, as he no longer trusts the efforts of the United Nations. There still remains approximately 7,000 U.N. troops in the Ivory Coast.
