20100601
Allafrica

In an exclusive interview with RFI, Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo has pledged that long-delayed elections will take place before the end of the year.

He also indicated his wish that the headquarters of the African Development Bank, which was relocated from Abidjan in 2003, return to the west African country.
Gbagbo sacked the government and electoral commission in February before Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was able to name a new cabinet after mediation talks.
A new electoral commission is now organising voter lists and the Ivorian President told RFI's French service that the presidential elections, which have been repeatedly postponed since 2005, will definitely take place in 2010.
"They'll be carried out by Ivorians, for Ivorians, when Ivorians are ready," he said. "I'm always surprised when people come and question me on this subject as if they're more worried about the Ivorian elections than us.
"It's not about what I would like but what has to be done. What has to be done is in the process of being done. We won't leave the year 2010 without having elections. I'm certain about that."
Gbagbo, who has been in power for ten years, was speaking to RFI at the recently-concluded African Development Bank meeting in Abidjan. He said the economic crisis was not the only reason for the high turnout of 2,200 delegates at the summit.
"Some people wanted to see the condition Abidjan is in, the condition the Côte d'Ivoire is in," he said. "To see if the insecurity that they were told about is still ongoing, to see if the situation is getting back to normal. And we're happy. The city of Abidjan is not more dangerous than a lot of others where there is no war."
The African Development Bank moved its headquarters from Abidjan to Tunis soon after a civil war broke out in the Côte d'Ivoire.