Alassane Ouattara acts to draft new constitution for Cote D'Ivoire
Thu Jun 02, 2016 09:56:am Africa
2.3K By Buchi Obichie
President Alassane Ouattara of Cote D'Ivoire has taken a step toward drawing up a new constitution and scrapping a Nationality Clause which helped drag the country into a decade-long crisis, and bedeviled his own initial bids for the presidency.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Presidency announced the appointment of a 10-member experts panel, including Justice Minister Sansan Kambile along with legal experts and law professors, to draft a new National Charter.
The new Constitution would go to a public referendum for approval, Ouattara's office said.
During his campaign for re-election last year, President Quattara pledged to scrap a Nationality Clause which helped lead the nation, which is the world's top cocoa grower, into prolonged crisis.
Ratified in 2000 in the wake of a military coup, the current constitution states that presidential candidates must prove both their parents are natural-born Ivorians. They must also have never claimed citizenship of another country.
Ivory Coast has long been a magnet for immigrants from neighboring countries and the clause became a symbol of exclusion, particularly for northerners whose family ties often cross into neighboring Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.
The issue of Ivorian nationality thus became a burning political subject at the heart of a 2002-2003 civil war which divided the country in two for eight years.
Ouattara himself was barred from seeking the presidency over what opponents said were his 'foreign origins', before he finally won election in 2010. However, his victory sparked a second brief civil conflict that killed more than 3,000 people.
The statement said Ouattara would hold consultations with opposition figures, traditional chiefs, religious leaders and members of civil society groups.
"The results of these consultations will be transmitted to the Experts Committee with the aim of proposing to the President of the Republic a text to submit to referendum in order to give Ivory Coast a new constitution," it said.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Presidency announced the appointment of a 10-member experts panel, including Justice Minister Sansan Kambile along with legal experts and law professors, to draft a new National Charter.
The new Constitution would go to a public referendum for approval, Ouattara's office said.
During his campaign for re-election last year, President Quattara pledged to scrap a Nationality Clause which helped lead the nation, which is the world's top cocoa grower, into prolonged crisis.
Ratified in 2000 in the wake of a military coup, the current constitution states that presidential candidates must prove both their parents are natural-born Ivorians. They must also have never claimed citizenship of another country.
Ivory Coast has long been a magnet for immigrants from neighboring countries and the clause became a symbol of exclusion, particularly for northerners whose family ties often cross into neighboring Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.
The issue of Ivorian nationality thus became a burning political subject at the heart of a 2002-2003 civil war which divided the country in two for eight years.
Ouattara himself was barred from seeking the presidency over what opponents said were his 'foreign origins', before he finally won election in 2010. However, his victory sparked a second brief civil conflict that killed more than 3,000 people.
The statement said Ouattara would hold consultations with opposition figures, traditional chiefs, religious leaders and members of civil society groups.
"The results of these consultations will be transmitted to the Experts Committee with the aim of proposing to the President of the Republic a text to submit to referendum in order to give Ivory Coast a new constitution," it said.
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