_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ Ivory Coast ___________

Vatican visit postponed
Leader prefers reconciliation talks
The president of Ivory Coast, who was expected at the Vatican on December 10, postponed that visit because of a domestic crisis in that African nation.

President Laurent Gbagno announced that he would participate in a “national forum of reconciliation” that opened on December 8, delaying his trip to Rome. The national forum was intended to discuss the ethnic, religious, and political divisions that have festered in Ivory Coast since a coup ousted the government in December 1999.

The prospects for the success of this forum improved when Alassane Quattara, the most prominent foe of the Gbagno regime, agreed to participate in the discussions. Quattara, who has been in exile since clashes between his supporters and those of the Gbagno regime last year, said that he would attend the forum after receiving guarantees that the government would allow his participation. In 2000 he was barred from taking part in presidential elections because the government alleged that he might not be a citizen of Ivory Coast.

The population of Ivory Coast is roughly one-third Christian (of whom more than half are Catholic), one-third Muslim, and one-third adherents of traditional animist religions.

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