COTE D'IVOIRE SET FOR ANOTHER EXPLOSION
Gbagbo throws opponents out of
government

ABIDJAN, 18 May (IRIN) - President Laurent Gbagbo said on
Tuesday that he wanted some ministers to leave Cote d'Ivoire's
broad-based national reconciliation government and was suspending the
salaries of 26 opposition and rebel ministers who have boycotted the
cabinet since the security forces killed at least 120 people in Abidjan at
the end of March.

Gbagbo said in a surprise television broadcast that he had sent Prime
Minister Seydou Diarra a list of the ministers who he wanted to remove
from government, but he did not reveal their names.

However, Gbagbo said they were all members of the ?G7,? an alliance
of the "New Forces" rebel movement which occupies the north of Cote
d'Ivoire and the four main opposition parties in parliament.

They pulled out of the government following the security forces bloody
repression of a banned demonstration against Gbagbo in Abidjan on 25
March.

An investigation by UN human rights experts concluded that at least 120
people died in the crackdown. They also blamed "the highest authority
of the state" for deliberately ordering "the indiscriminate killing of
innocent civilians by the security forces."

The president's bellicose speech sparked panic across Abidjan. Some
businesses closed and several international organizations sent their staff
home early.

A UN source, who asked not be named, said that by asking Diarra to
form a new government, Gbagbo was putting him in a tough position. He
even speculated that the president was trying to push Diarra, a politically
independent former civil servant, to resign.

?The monster has awaken. The international community is dismayed to
see that Cote d?Ivoire is once again turning a dark corner. But we really
hope that this latest speech is a cry for help?, an African diplomat based
in Abidjan told IRIN.

Gbagbo, who in the last three weeks has been lobbying African heads of
state for support, said he had ordered the immediate departure of all
government ministers accommodated at the Golf Hotel, a four-star hotel
in the upperclass neighbourhood of Cocody.

This is protected by French and UN peacekeeping troops and has until
now been used as a safe haven by the nine ministers of the New Forces
rebel movement.

Opposition and rebel leaders greeted Gbagbo's announcement with
cynicism.

?It was a great reconciliation speech, worthy of a president who is
worried about the lives of population living in the rebel-held areas?,
Amadou Kone, a senior aide to rebel leader Guillaume Soro, told IRIN

?It shows his willingness for peace?, said Alphonse Djedje-Mady, the
chairman of the ?G7? steering committee, with equal sarcasm.
Djedje-Mady is secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Cote
d'Ivoire (PDCI), the largest opposition party represented in parliament.

Soon after Gbagbo's speech was broadcast, eyewitnesses saw a crowd
of ?Young Patriots?, the mostly unemployed and often violent youth
followers of the president, heading from university residences in Cocody
towards the Golf Hotel to ?dislodge? rebel and opposition ministers
staying there.

The militia-style youth groups tried to do the same thing a few months
ago, but were thwarted by international peacekeepers.

A UN security source said about 300 Young Patriots blocked the
entrance to the prime minister's office after Gbagbo's speech, while
another group gathered outside the Jean Mermoz French school in
Cocody,  a target of several previous demonstrations by Gbagbo?s
young supporters.

Pascal Affi N'guessan, a former prime minister who is now president of
Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party, told IRIN that the head of
state had taken an initiative to try and break the deadlock in Ivorian
politics which has persisted since the opposition walked out of
government at the end of March.

Affi N'guessan said people would now see who really stood for peace in
Cote d'Ivoire, because West Africa's most prosperous country could
not go on in this manner.

?The objective is to put back some order, work with those who want to
work?, Affi N?guessan said. ?He [Gbagbo] needs to bang on the table,
if he doesn?t who will??, he asked rhetorically.

Like Gbagbo, Affi N'guessan, his long-time friend and political ally,
blamed the malfunctioning of the coalition government on what he called
the indiscipline and insubordination of opposition ministers.

December 12, 2003

U.S. INVESTORS SUE
GOVERNMENT OF CÔTE
D?IVOIRE FOR $54 MILLION
Prompt, Adequate and Effective
Compensation Demanded


Washington, D.C. ? Western Wireless
International Corporation, a subsidiary
of Western Wireless Corporation
(NASDAQ: WWCA), and the Modern
Africa Growth & Investment Company,
L.L.C. (MAGIC), who together are the
U.S-based majority owners of Cora de
Comstar, a private wireless
telecommunications company
headquartered in the Côte d?Ivoire, have
filed a $54 million expropriation claim
against the Côte d?Ivoire government in
an effort to reclaim assets seized by the
government on October 9, 2003, during
an assault and occupation of the
company.

The government-backed assaults on
Cora and its employees date back to
May 2001, when a  group of  Ivorian  
government  militia and police,  
accompanied  by Alexander Galley, an
Ivorian   with  ties  to  former  Liberian  
president  Charles  Taylor,  led  an  
attack  on  the company?s headquarters.
Galley appears on the United Nations
list of  ?Persons Subject to Travel
Restrictions Pursuant to Resolution
1343 (2001) on Liberia? for alleged
involvement in illegal arms trading with
rebel groups in West Africa. Galley has
also been convicted of counterfeiting in a
criminal action filed in France.

Between May 2001 and October 2003,
Galley manipulated the court system
and mobilized the Ivorian security forces
to terrorize Cora de Comstar and
ultimately seize   and destroy its assets.  
 The claim demonstrates that Galley
would have been powerless without the
backing of the Côte d?Ivoire government.

These actions of terror culminated on
October 9, 2003, when Cora?s
headquarters was seized and occupied
seven days by approximately 25
uniformed and armed Ivorian policemen
led by a commandant and accompanied
by Galley.  During the takeover, Cora?s
employees were physically and verbally
assaulted by the police; the company?s
safes, including their contents, company
documents and other assets stolen; and
the headquarters nearly destroyed.  
Repeated requests to the Ivorian
government by Cora personnel and the
U.S. shareholders to terminate the
takeover were ignored.

During this occupation, the
state-controlled television station
broadcast pictures of Galley in control
of Cora with the armed support of
uniformed Ivorian police.  On October
12, as a result of these unlawful actions
by the Ivorian government, Cora was
forced to shut off its wireless service to
more than 40,000 subscribers.  The
perpetrators have not been arrested or
charged for these actions.

?To say that we are frustrated is a gross
understatement,? said Stephen Cashin,
Managing Director of MAGIC.  ?We
have spent years working with the
Ivorian Government trying to address
these unlawful actions against Cora.  We
tried working through the courts, but we
were persistently denied due process.  
We met with every Ivorian official with
any degree of responsibility over the
situation. We negotiated a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Office of the
President.  But all of these actions
proved to be meaningless. This claim is
the only recourse we have left.?

?At the end of the day, the government
effectively chose to support an
international criminal over the right to
due process for U.S. investors.  In doing
so, it has seized a valuable U.S. asset,
fundamentally undermined the
international investment climate and
breached its bilateral and multilateral
treaty obligations,? he added.

The shareholders of Cora de Comstar
expect that Government of Côte
d?Ivoire will provide prompt, adequate
and effective compensation.

Prior to its seizure, Cora de Comstar had
operated a GSM-900 wireless
telecommunications network since 1996,
and had over 40,000 subscribers.  The
Cora network covered the key
population and commercial centers of
Côte d?Ivoire, including greater Abidjan,
Grand Bassam, San Pedro,
Yamoussoukro, Bouake, and Assinie
with both prepaid and postpaid services.

To obtain a copy of the claim, please
visit www.modernafrica.com

About Western Wireless International
Corporation
Western Wireless International
Corporation operates GSM networks in
Austria (Telering), Bolivia (Viva), Côte
d'Ivoire (Cora), Georgia (MagtiCom,
Ltd.), Ghana (Westel), Ireland  
(Meteor), Slovenia (Vega), and a TDMA
network in Haiti (COMCEL). For more
information about Western Wireless
International Corporation, visit
www.wwirelessintl.com .