Cote d'Ivoire's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has announced that public meetings will run concurrently with the identification process, according to the Ivorian News Agency (AIP).
"The identification process will be launched to run concurrently with the public meetings in a move that will see the people receive national identity cards," the prime minister was quoted as saying by the AIP Monday.
According to the prime minister, who was speaking over the weekend at Ferkessrdougou, northern Cote d'Ivoire, "the issue of identity and citizenship were at the heart of the crisis" facing the country.
Saying that "Cote d'Ivoire can no longer afford the luxury of rigged elections," Soro reaffirmed his support for the organization of "free, fair and democratic" elections in the country.
In order to facilitate this, Soro called on the armed wing of the FN to give a rousing welcome to the prefects, general counselors and mayors, who are being redeployed across the country, with a view to helping them accomplish their mission successfully.
The public meetings together with the identification process will help in the establishment of electoral registers in preparation for the forthcoming presidential elections. The elections, which were initially planned to be held on October 2005, have been postponed on a number of occasions owing to political squabbling.
Cote d'Ivoire's government halted the issuance of identity cards largely owing to fears that a "hastened" process may confer identity upon illegal immigrants, who according to official figures, are estimated to be 3.5 million, and who are thought to be opposition sympathizers.
Cote d'Ivoire has been divided into two since the former FN rebels took control of the northern part of the country in a botched coup attempt against the regime of Gbagbo in September 2002.
Under international mediation, President Gbagbo and FN secretary general Soro concluded a peace agreement in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, on March 4, 2007 and in line with the agreement, Soro was named prime minister with the specific task of spearheading the search for lasting peace in the country.
Source: Xinhua
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