Government fast tracks new laws demanded by rebels

The government of Cote d'Ivoire has agreed to fast track the legislation of three key measures demanded by rebels occupying the north of the country as a conciliation for resuming their participation in the peace process. An official statement issued on Thursday night said President Laurent Gbagbo had ordered the broad-based government of national reconciliation headed by prime minister Seydou Diarra to present drafts of three new laws to next week's cabinet meeting. The reforms, which were called for by a peace agreement signed between Gbagbo and the rebels in January, would be discussed by parliament during the second week of November, it added. The three reforms are: - The amendment of a section of the constitution which bans citizens with a foreign parent or citizens who have spent long periods living abroad from becoming president. The current wording was used to prevent former prime minister Alassane Ouattara from standing against Gbagbo in the 2000 presidential election. - A new nationality law to give full rights of citizenship to immigrants from other West African countries and their offspring, who account for 30 percent of Cote d'Ivoire's 16 million population. - A new property law to give full land ownership rights to immigrants who have occupied and cultivated land with the consent of local communities. Tens of thousands of immigrants from Burkina Faso and Mali and many Ivorians who have migrated internally, have been thrown off their land since Cote d'Ivoire plunged into civil war in September 2002. The government announced the fast track passage of these reforms hours after Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ghanaian President John Kufuor flew to Abidjan to press Gbagbo to enact them in order to save Cote d'Ivoire's faltering peace process. Diplomats said they had pressed him to agree to enact these measures immediately in order to persuade the rebels to resume their seats in the cabinet and begin a delayed programme of demobilisation and disarmament. The rebels signed a French-brokered peace agreement with Gbagbo in January and sent nine ministers to serve in Diarra's coalition government three months later. But on 23 September, they suspended their participation in the peace process and froze plans to disarm in protest at Gbagbo's alleged refusal to delegate meaningful powers to the cabinet. Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal have spearheaded a diplomatic initiative over the past two weeks to put the Ivorian peace process back on track. Diplomats said the three governments were hoping to arrange a reconciliation meeting between Gbagbo and rebel leaders in the Ghanaian capital Accra next week to seal the month-old rift. Gbagbo's concessions to the rebel demands were announced as gangs of youths attacked newspaper vans to seize and burn opposition newspapers. Their actions and anonymous death threats forced Cote d'Ivoire's only newspaper distribution company to suspend operations on Friday leaving newspaper stands throughout the country empty.