/ 7 December 2000

IVORY COAST CALM AFTER VIOLENCE

AN uneasy calm is hanging over Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan after two days of pre-election political and ethnic violence during which at least 20 people have died. Muslim former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara’s Rally of the Republicans (RDR) called street protests in defiance of a government ban after the Supreme Court excluded him from next Sunday’s parliamentary election because of doubts about his nationality. – Reuters