African Media Barometer ALGERIA 2009 Executive Summary The Constitution of the Republic of Ivory Coast places great emphasis on the country’s commitment to democratic values, respect and the protection of fundamental, individual and collective liberties. In its preamble, the Constitution states the adherence of the people of Ivory Coast to “the rights and liberties as defined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights”. Despite the principle of Freedom of Expression upheld by the Constitution as well as the laws and regulatory instruments, this freedom is not fully exercised, partly as a consequences of the political and military crisis experienced by the country since the end of the 90s. The crisis was worsened by the start of the war following the attempted Coup d’état of 19 September 2002. After several agreements including those of Linas-Marcoussis (2003) and Pretoria (2005), it was finally the Ouagadougou agreement in 2007 that initiated the national reunification and reconciliation process. A government of national unity was established, headed by Guillaume Soro, leader of the Forces Nouvelles, who, under the guidance of President Laurent Gbagbo, is in charge of preparing the general elections to be held in November 2009. A former French colony, Ivory Coast became independent on 7 August 1960. Its population is currently estimated at 20 million inhabitants. The currency used is the CFA franc which was formerly pegged to the French Franc and now to the Euro. One (1) Euro is equal to 655.957 CFA francs. At the death of its first President Felix Houphouët-Boigny on 7 December 1993, the then Speaker of the National Assembly Henri Konan Bédié, acted as interim before finally being confirmed as President of the Republic. However, a war of succession between Henri Konan Bédié and Alassane Dramane Ouattara, respectively Speaker of the National Assembly and Prime Minister under the rule of President Houphouët-Boigny, plunged the country in a crisis that led to the Coup d’état of December 1999 by General Robert Guéi. The latter organised the 2000 General Elections in which he participated while excluding certain members of the opposition. Laurent Gbagbo’s victory was obtained in blood when General Guéi tried to manipulate the results of the vote with the use of force. It was within this context of conflict between President Laurent Gbagbo, General Guéi and those excluded from the 2000 elections that the attempted 70 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER IVORY COAST 2009