Military

DATE=11/04/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IVORY COAST/POL (L O)

NUMBER=2-268828

BYLINE=NANCY PALUS

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: As Ivory Coast struggles to recover from recent ethnic violence,

there is lingering tension over demands by northern Muslims that the country hold new presidential elections. But northerners are not unanimous in this call. Many just want to see the country move past the current crisis. Nancy Palus reports from Abidjan.

TEXT: After hundreds died in ethnic clashes last week, the new

government of President Laurent Gbagbo has formed a broad-based

committee on national reconciliation. But for many Muslims of Ivory

Coast's Djioula ethnic group, reconciliation is impossible without new

elections that would include their leader, former Ivorian prime minister

Alassane Ouattara.

This sentiment is not shared by all northern Muslims. Many simply

want to move forward, and say the country must accept Mr. Gbagbo - a

long-time rival of Mr. Ouattara - and give his administration a chance.

Mr. Ouattara was excluded from the October 22 presidential election,

because of doubts surrounding his nationality. Also excluded from the

polls were the candidates of the former ruling Democratic Party. Many

voters heeded the two parties' calls for a boycott.

Mr. Gbagbo came to power after a popular uprising toppled military ruler

Robert Guei when he tried to declare victory in the election despite

clear indications that Mr. Gbagbo had won. Ouattara supporters

immediately took to the streets, calling for new and inclusive

elections. The ensuing clashes resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Mr. Ouattara's critics say he has stirred up feelings of exclusion and

hostility among people of the north, his greatest support base.

Twenty five year old Ahmed Moustapha is a Muslim from the northern region of Touba. He says there has always been ethnic tension in Ivory Coast - among many different groups - and it is not simply a case of northerners being excluded. He does not agree that new elections are necessary for reconciliation to take place.

///MOUSTAPHA ACT IN FRENCH - ESTABLISH AND FADE///

He says reconciliation is possible. He says, I do not think a new election is the way to go. For me, we must accept what has happened. He says, I am for letting President Gbagbo get on with his job.

Still, there are militants of Mr. Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans

party, or R-D-R, for whom a new presidential election is the only

answer.

Guy-Alain, 27, is among several R-D-R militants who have been camped out for days outside Mr. Ouattara's home in Abidjan. He says the country cannot even consider reconciliation without new elections.

///GUY-ALAIN ACT - ESTABLISH AND FADE///

He says, we believe that to have peace return to Ivory Coast, there must be new elections. Otherwise, we cannot even talk about national reconciliation. He says since many northerners did not vote, Mr. Gbagbo is president of one part of Ivory Coast, but not the entire country.

Fueling the lingering tension is the fear of reprisals, after so many

Muslim northerners were killed in the recent conflict.

R-D-R's leadership has appealed for calm among its supporters. After a

meeting with President Gbagbo, Mr. Ouattara said his party will not

participate in the Gbagbo government but will wait for legislative

elections in December to decide its next step.

President Gbagbo traveled to the northern town of Korhogo Saturday for a meeting with Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare. Korhogo is a mainly Muslim region, and home to many immigrants from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso. The trip was seen as an effort to reach out to Muslims in the north. (SIGNED)

NEB/NEP/DW/KBK