Back to Main Press Releases page

Feb, 10, 2000: Cote d'Ivoire's Ouattara Addresses business concerns Cote d'Ivoire's Ouattara Addresses Corporate Council on Africa

Alissane Ouattara, former Prime Minister of the Cote d'Ivoire, recently retired Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, and a candidate for the presidential elections slated later this year outlined his concerns and hopes for the Cote d'Ivoire at a February 10 luncheon in Washington hosted by the CCA.

Outtara was in Washington on a series of consultations on the events in the Cote d'Ivoire in the wake of the December 24 coup which drove Henri Bedie from power. Ouattara visited in his capacity as the President of the Rally of Republicans, the party that he will lead into the elections scheduled for later this year. He noted that many of his Washington interlocutors condemned out of the hand the coup which, among other things, revived Ouattara's presidential bid after he was 'disqualified' last year. "We share that condemnation of the coup," he told his audience. "In the Cote d'Ivoire we had always prided ourselves on being different, but now we are like every other country in the region. Our strategy now must be to make certain that this coup is not succeeded by another coup, but by a return to the democratic processes that long prevailed there."

"The country requires a process of democratization," he stressed, "but democratization will not be enough. We will have to embark on a process of reform to encourage economic growth." He cited the debt burden - total debt is equal to 110% of GDP - as an immediate concern, although he noted that the new government had been able to make up arrears on commercial debt payments.

The constitutional committees expect to produce the guidelines for the Second Republic based upon the original Ivorian constitution promulgated by Houphouet-Boigny, but with some additions based on the French, Swiss and U.S. practices. A key element, according to Ouattara, would be that any constitutional amendments in the Second Republic would have to be approved by referendum, not by executive or parliamentary decree. And, addressing the thorny issue of Ivorian citizenship, he stressed that the new constitution will return to the system initiated by the late Houphouet in which the children of Ivorian citizens would automatically citizens.

The program, another in the CCA's regular meetings with African leaders, was underwritten by Sterling Merchant Finance, Ocean Energy Inc., and Vanco Energy Company.

Back to Main Press Releases page