Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Côte d'Ivoire

Thousands riot over voter lists in Ivory Coast town

  • Thousands riot, over-run security forces

* Protest is latest sign of trouble over election lists

* PM seeks facilitator's help in ending dispute

By Loucoumane Coulibaly

ABIDJAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Thousands rioted over Ivory Coast's election preparations on Friday, overrunning security forces in a town in the west of the biggest cocoa-growing nation, officials and witnesses said.

The rioting in Man, close to the Liberian border, was the latest violent protest by youths fearing they would be excluded from voting in a dispute over election lists that risks further delaying polls first scheduled for 2005 and now due in March.

Analysts say elections are a prerequisite for attracting investors and paving the way for reform of the ailing cocoa sector, which saw a drop in production last season.

President Laurent Gbagbo and the opposition are locked in a row over who should run the electoral commission and the composition of voter lists.

The dispute has focused attention again on the question of nationality and eligibility to vote, an issue central to a 2002-2003 civil war which left the West African nation divided in two.

The prime minister called on Burkina Faso's president, who has been mediating efforts to end the political stalemate that followed the war, to help find a solution.

"We were overrun by the mass of people. There were 5,000 of them and the 200 people in charge of security could do nothing," Lacine Mara, a spokesman for the local military commander, said.

"The courthouse was attacked but we were able to save some administrative materials," Mara added.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast appealed for calm on Thursday after similar protests in Katiola and Divo earlier this week.

"The youths, who were accusing (pro-Gbagbo) judges of removing their names from the electoral lists, attacked the courthouse with rocks and sticks. I saw them take documents and computers," said local baker Andre N'Zi. "The town is paralysed. There is no activity. Everything is closed," he added.

ROW OVER VOTER LISTS

Gbagbo has accused the election commission -- led by an opposition-appointed official -- of trying illegally to add 430,000 names to a voting list before polls due by end-March. Observers see that timetable as all but impossible now.

The president's camp wants the head of the election commission to resign but the main opposition parties are standing behind him, leaving the process blocked.

"We are experiencing some difficulties in Ivory Coast," Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said, after a meeting with Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore in Ouagadougou.

"I have come not only to report to President Compaore ... but also to ask the facilitator to help find a solution."

A coalition of opposition parties, including presidential challengers Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie, accused Gbagbo of delaying tactics.

"The (peace agreement) has never been in as much danger as it is now, as a result of the presidential camp's manoeuvres," the RHDP coalition said in a statement, referring to a 2007 accord designed to govern the transition to elections. (Additional reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou in Ouagadougou; Writing by David Lewis; editing by Tim Pearce)