State Department Noon Briefing, October 26
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
BRIEFER: PHILIP T. REEKER, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2000 1:30 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: On the Ivory Coast, there are calls now for elections. Yesterday
you said it was something to consider, but the US did not at that
point endorse new elections. Any change in the US view today? Is the
situation --
MR. REEKER: Let's definitely look at the Ivory Coast and just run
through the situation as we see it. We have been in very close touch,
obviously, with our Embassy in Abidjan, and the situation remains very
fluid with some violence in Abidjan and other parts of the country.
Laurent Gbagbo, the apparent victor in the flawed election from
October 22nd, addressed the nation yesterday as its new president, but
he said at that time that he will not take office until the national
election commission validates his victory. Now, I understand from some
press reports that the election commission has declared him the
winner, but we don't have full details or confirmation of that yet.
There are some reports that the leader of the opposition, Mr.
Quattara, had his property invaded this morning by a violent crowd,
and that he had fled. Mr. Quattara has called for new, inclusive
elections. He, as you will recall, had been declared ineligible to run
as a candidate in the presidential elections.
There are reports of serious clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and
Quattara throughout the country, including attacks on mosques and
churches. So we strongly urge all parties in Cote d'Ivoire to refrain
from violence. As I said yesterday, it is important to work to restore
calm immediately and cooperate in returning Cote d'Ivoire to democracy
and the rule of law.
While Mr. Gbagbo appears to have the support of General Doue and the
country's security forces, it is still not clear who is exercising
authority. As I said, it does remain very fluid there and we are
calling upon all the parties to reconcile and return to democracy.
They all have a fundamental responsibility to control their supporters
and ensure that the violence doesn't spread, and we are urging them to
speak out - all the leaders to speak out and urge their supporters to
forsake violence.
As we said, the election on October 22nd was failed and fundamentally
flawed from the outset due to the exclusion of major party candidates
and other machinations leading up to the election. It is going to be
very important for the voices of the disenfranchised Ivorians to be
heard, and in that sense the holding of free, fair and inclusive
elections will be needed to fully restore the Government of Cote
d'Ivoire's legitimacy and bring democracy back to Cote d'Ivoire. So we
want to see the restoration of democracy as soon as possible, and we
are urging all the parties to cooperate toward that end.
Q: So you're calling for new elections, admittedly in a chaotic
situation, but that, I guess, you consider an improvement what
happened until now? You are endorsing it? The Europeans have called
for - the US is calling for new elections?
MR. REEKER: I think - exactly - we need to see some restoration of
democracy, clearly, and the parties are all going to have to work
together, in an absence of violence, and work out the process. But it
is important that the voices of the disenfranchised are heard, as I
indicated, and the holding of free, fair and inclusive elections will
be needed to get back to democracy.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:10 P.M.)
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