Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Ouattara inaugurated as Ivory Coast president
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Photos of the week
Our top photos from the past week. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Broadcaster silent as "Judgment Day" hours tick by
|
4:01pm EDT
French women attack misogyny in Strauss-Kahn case
1:15pm EDT
Predictor of May 21 doomsday to watch it on TV
|
19 May 2011
Israeli rebuke of Obama exposes divide on Mideast
|
20 May 2011
Strauss-Kahn under house arrest in New York
|
4:05pm EDT
Discussed
304
Obama and Netanyahu face tense meeting on Mideast
81
Israel-Palestinian violence erupts on three borders
70
Boehner says ready to cut budget deal today
Watched
End of the world as we know it...on May 21
Wed, May 18 2011
Arnold Schwarzenegger's mystery woman identified
Thu, May 19 2011
Netanyahu rejects Obama's border proposal
Fri, May 20 2011
Ouattara inaugurated as Ivory Coast president
Tweet
Share this
By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa
YAMOUSSOUKRO (Reuters) - Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated as president of Ivory Coast on Saturday, in a ceremony most Ivorians hope will end a decade of conflict and mend a once prosperous economy.
French President...
Email
Print
Related News
Ouattara inaugurated as Ivory Coast president
12:13pm EDT
Strauss-Kahn is released on bail
10:25am EDT
WRAPUP 11-Former IMF chief wins bail; succession race rages
Thu, May 19 2011
IMF chief gets new bail hearing, mug shot released
Wed, May 18 2011
France in shock as IMF chief charged with sex assault
Sun, May 15 2011
Analysis & Opinion
How Lagarde should be appointed at the IMF
Don’t confuse DSK’s sex life with assault
Related Topics
World »
United Nations »
Ivory Coast »
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara speaks during his inauguration ceremony at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Foundation in Yamoussoukro May 21, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Luc Gnago
By Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa
YAMOUSSOUKRO |
Sat May 21, 2011 3:14pm EDT
YAMOUSSOUKRO (Reuters) - Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated as president of Ivory Coast on Saturday, in a ceremony most Ivorians hope will end a decade of conflict and mend a once prosperous economy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the guests of honor at the event, received a standing ovation after Ouattara thanked him for sending in French troops to end an impasse over his election win.
"This day is a historic moment for all Ivorians, and it marks a will to write a new page of history for Ivory Coast," Ouattara said in a speech in the former French colony's official capital Yamoussoukro.
"The crisis is behind us," he said. "It is the return of Ivory Coast into the international and African scene that we are celebrating today."
Ouattara was declared winner of a U.N.-certified election in November billed as a chance to reunite the fertile, cocoa-growing West African nation, after rebels seized its northern half in late 2002.
Instead, the country lurched back into civil war when incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down -- and used troops, paramilitaries, youth militias and Liberian mercenaries to entrench his position and crush dissent.
At least 3,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced in the power struggle, in which cocoa exports ground to a halt, banks shut and shops were ransacked by militiamen.
The impasse ended when pro-Ouattara rebels backed by the French military raided Gbagbo's compound at the height of the fighting and seized him from his blast-proof bunker.
On Saturday, U.N. tanks lined the main avenues of the Yamoussoukro amid high security for the arrival of about 20 heads of state and dignitaries.
Thousands of cheering Ivorians gathered outside the venue and watched the inauguration on giant TV screens. In the commercial capital Abidjan, troops fired automatic weapons into the air to celebrate.
Henriette Diabate, Ivory Coast's Grand Chancellor, placed a gold necklace around Ouattara's neck, marking his official inauguration.
As the former IMF deputy director sat on stage wrapped in an orange sash, a group of chiefs from Yamoussoukro cast sand on the ground and poured a libation in a ritual to ask ancestral spirits to give him their blessing.
Ouattara faces the task of reuniting a bitterly divided country and getting its wrecked economy back on track.
"What has happened, has happened. We don't want to look back anymore. We want to look straight ahead," said Youssouf Toure, an electrician, as he waited outside the ceremony grounds.
"This crisis is finished. We can forget it, we can forgive. President Ouattara has said we need to forgive. Then we can start to get back what we lost."
FRENCH TROOPS
Speaking to French citizens later in Abidjan, Sarkozy said France would keep troops in Ivory Coast.
"We will maintain military forces here to protect our citizens ... But I want to make it clear between us, the French army is not here to ensure the stability of whatever government, even a friendly one," he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, en route to take part in the inauguration, said the international community should support Ouattara.
"A democratically elected person should be the one to lead the country based on the will of the people. This is what we have learned," Ban said at a meeting with Ghana's president John Atta Mills in Accra on Saturday.
Ban said that although the Ivorian crisis was over, the United Nations and the international community still had challenges to deal with.
"There are serious challenges like national reconciliation, restoration of peace, and humanitarian affairs as well as accountability questions and impunity issues," he said.
Gbagbo is under house arrest in Ivory Coast's north and Ouattara wants him tried for human rights abuses during the conflict.
The International Criminal Court said this month Ouattara had asked it to investigate all allegations of serious abuses during the post-election crisis.
Ouattara's forces are also accused of abuses, such as looting, rape and killing civilians.
(Additional reporting by Yann Le Guernigou and Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan, Hereward Holland in Accra; writing by Bate Felix; editing by Andrew Heavens)
World
United Nations
Ivory Coast
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Sunday, 22 May 2011 Volcano erupts in Iceland, air disruption unlikely
|
North Sudan deploys tanks in key disputed town: U.N.
|
Iran lets Karoubi hunt new house for house arrest
|
Ouattara inaugurated as Ivory Coast president
|
Spaniards protest before elections despite ban
|
Libya rebels say government shells port city
|
UK sportsman asks Twitter for details of users
|
Netanyahu says differences with Obama exaggerated
|
NATO strikes near Gaddafi's Tripoli compound
|
China says dialogue only way to solve Korea crisis
|
Suicide bomber kills at least 7 in Iraq
|
Iceland volcano erupts, officials eye flight risks
|
Japan quake reconstruction may cost up to $184 billion: Yosano
|
Bahrain upholds 2 death sentences in police killings
|
Pakistan army denies U.S. troops were in northwest
|
Spaniards protest before elections despite ban
|
Sarkozy enlists tech A-list for Web economy forum
|
Apple probes blast at Chinese plant
|
Diplomats trapped by Yemen loyalists, blocking deal
|
Baghdad hit by series of bombs, 15 killed
|
Train collides with jeep in eastern India, 17 dead
|
Police surround compound in east Afghanistan siege
|
Spaniards vote in local elections marked by protests
|
North Sudan seizes disputed Abyei, thousands flee
|
Saudi woman arrested for challenging driving ban
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights