Côte d'Ivoire : [2006]

For Côte d'Ivoire and its people, 2006 was - once again - a wasted year marked by exhausting uncertainty, many twists and turns, little hope and many fears. Yet the previous year had ended well with the implementation of an internationally mediated solution aimed at ending the deadlock that had arisen out of the impossibility of organising presidential elections at the end of President Laurent Gbagbo's five-year mandate (31 October 2005). A transitional period began with the extension of the presidential term by a maximum of one year and the nomination of a new prime minister Charles Konan Banny, governor of the BCEAO with extended powers (4 December 2005). This, however, did not end the impasse during 2006 as a result of the lack of political will among Côte d'Ivoire's politicians. When the new deadline for presidential elections drew closer, the Ivorian people and international community were provided with a remake of 2005: continuation of political deadlock and an exit option devised by the AU and UN, which proposed another one-year transition period. (Résumé d'auteur