[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 22118]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      SITUATION IN THE IVORY COAST

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise to comment on the alarming 
situation in the Ivory Coast.
  When General Robert Guei seized power in a coup last December, he 
indicated that he intended to hand over power to a civilian government 
quickly. Instead, and despite the urging of distinguished African heads 
of state from South Africa, Nigeria, and Senegal, Guei has chosen to 
run for President from his position of illegitimate authority, in which 
he can manipulate his own chances of electoral success.
  Last Friday, the Ivory Coast's Supreme Court issued a ruling barring 
all but five of twenty candidates seeking to run in Presidential 
elections slated for later this month. The ruling disqualified popular 
opposition leaders, most notably Former Prime Minister Alassane 
Ouattara, and the former ruling party's candidate, Emile Constant 
Bombey. Notably, Guei's former legal advisor is now serving as the 
court's chief. The upcoming elections are looking more and more like 
political farce, and General Guei's credibility is in tatters.
  Leading up to the Court's ruling, the General Guei's government took 
actions clearly intended to intimidate the opposition, instituting a 
state of emergency, banning opposition politicians from international 
travel, and executing sweeps to round up immigrants who have 
consistently supported elements of the opposition. The junta that 
claimed it stepped into power to save the country now appears committed 
to a course of destruction. One of Africa's most stable and important 
economies is threatened by the instability exacerbated by the junta's 
political machinations, and General Guei's attempts to rally popular 
support have been characterized by misguided, xenophobic rhetoric aimed 
at threatening foreigners in a country that depends upon an immigrant 
workforce.
  The people of the Ivory Coast deserve far better than this. At its 
core, democratic government is about trusting citizens to choose their 
own destiny, not about manipulating and restricting the choices 
available to them. The West African region, currently engaged in a 
struggle between the forces of democracy and those of thuggery, 
certainly does not need another thinly disguised dictatorship in its 
ranks. The only interests served by the junta's behavior are their own.

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