Ouattara 'closes' forum

A 90 mn-address on Saturday to Cote d'Ivoire's national reconciliation forum by Alassane Ouattara of the country's main opposition party marked the last public address before the forum closes on 17 December.

Opened on 9 October to enable the discussion of solutions to socio-political problems that have plagued the West African country since a coup d'etat of December 1999, the forum was due to end 10 December. But it will now end a week later, a member of its managing commitee told IRIN on Monday.

Ouattara, who heads the Rally for the Republiucans, focused his speech on his nationality - a controversial issue at the center of Ivorian politics since the early 1990's. To be eligible for presidential and parliamentary elections in Cote d'Ivoire, one must be a national and of Ivorian parentage. Ouattara's opponents have insisted he is a national of Burkina Faso, which he denies.

"I have never used another nationality", Ouattara told national leaders, foreign diplomats and the civil society during the forum. Retracing his family history, the main opposition leader also talked about his work at the IMF and the Central Bank of West Africa States (BCEAO), adding that he occupied all these posts as an Ivorian citizen.

He was barred twice last year contesting elections - presidential and parliamentary- by the Supreme Court on nationality grounds, including a stipulaion that candidates must never have been citizens of another country. Stating that he has proven his case, he reiterated a demand made by his party since alst year's polls: a rerun of elections.

"We [RDR] are demanding new elections", Ouattara said. He also called for an impartial judicial system and the end of impunity.

Ouattara's address marked the end of the auditions of the country's main political actors. President Laurent Gbagbo and former president Henri Konan Bedie spoke on 13 November. General Robert Guei, who ousted Bedie in the coup, addressed the forumn on 26 November.