Ivorian ruler to address nation ahead of emergency

In this story: Ouattara deputy flies out RELATED STORIES, SITES

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Ivory Coast's army ruler was to address the nation on Thursday as the world's biggest cocoa producer waits uneasily to hear who can contest a presidential election to restore civilian rule after the coup last December.

General Robert Guei has decreed a weekend state of emergency and overnight curfew spanning the midnight Saturday deadline for a supreme court ruling on who can stand in the October 22 poll.

"I will have a message for the nation tomorrow," Guei, who plans to contest the poll, told state television on Wednesday after the measures were announced. He urged people to stay calm.

Guei's information minister said the state of emergency and curfew were being imposed "in order to prevent serious threats to the security of people and goods in this electoral period."

The Supreme Court is widely expected to disqualify former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, whose plan to run has split the West African country on political and ethnic lines.

Opponents say Ouattara, who draws his support from the Muslim north, is a national of northern neighbor Burkina Faso and is ruled out by a constitution adopted by a July referendum.

Ouattara says he meets all conditions to run for president.

Ouattara deputy flies out

The ruling junta on Wednesday eased a travel ban on politicians to let Ouattara's deputy visit her sick husband.

Rally of the Republicans (RDR) secretary-general Henriette Diabate went on hunger strike when stopped at the airport.

"She took the Air France flight (on Wednesday evening) with no problem," Diabate's son Issa told Reuters.

Information Minister Henri Cesar Sama said the state of emergency would run from Friday to Monday and the curfew would apply from 9 p.m. (2100 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0600 GMT) on those days. A state of emergency allows the government to ban meetings and prevent movements of people at certain times and places.

In a separate development, military sources said the army was sending reinforcements to help keep peace in the cocoa-growing southwest between local Krumen and immigrant farmers from Burkina Faso.

Guei is among 19 candidates who registered to contest the election -- the first step in restoring civilian rule after the West African country's first coup last December.

A parliamentary election has been called for December 10.

The government newspaper Fraternite Matin reported on Thursday that 5,475,143 people were eligible to vote.

It said 240,572 new voters aged 18 to 20, awarded the suffrage under the July constitution, had registered.

Four people were killed and seven wounded on Wednesday in an explosion at a sprawling bus station in the main city Abidjan.

There was no independent confirmation of the cause. State television blamed "ill-intentioned individuals" saying a bomb they planned to plant blew up in their face.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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COTE D'IVOIRE

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