Sawt Falasteen - I. Coast president Ouattara tapped to run for fourth term

Ouattara himself has not yet confirmed whether or not he will run for a fourth term as president of the west African country.

But delegates accepted his candidacy after Patrick Achi, head of the congress of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), proposed him in the president's absence.

His nomination comes after weeks of rising political tensions triggered by the courts' barring of several opposition politicians from the October 25 election.

Ouattara's critics, who accuse the US-trained economist of creeping authoritarianism, fiercely oppose his possible candidacy.

Ivory Coast's two main opposition parties on Thursday announced a "common front" to demand that their leaders, banned from October presidential polls, be allowed to stand.

It brings together the African People's Party -- Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) of former president Laurent Gbagbo and former international banker Tidjane Thiam's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the country's largest opposition force.

Gbagbo, whose contesting of the 2010 vote which saw Ouattara elected triggered violence which killed 3,000 people, is among the politicians the courts have struck off the list of candidates for president.

- 'Continue the adventure' -

Whether Ouattara will run again is the question on everyone's lips in the west African nation.

Ouattara, who will turn 84 in January, has maintained the suspense for months. A comment made in January that he was "eager to continue serving" the country has so far been the only clue he is considering a fourth term.

Ouattara is on Sunday due to address a major meeting at the Ebimpe stadium, where Ivory Coast's footballers won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2024.

His supporters see the head of state, who made a career as an economist for the International Monetary Fund before turning to politics, as a beacon of stability.

They loudly cheered his nomination on Saturday, chanting his nickname "Ado" after his initials.

"He has to accept and listen to the cries of his children who are calling on him to continue the adventure," said Honore Adom, who came to the congress from the eastern Indenie-Djuablin region.

"He has so pleased us that he must finish the works that he has begun," Lassana Kone, who travelled from Gbeke in central Ivory Coast, told AFP.

- 'Envy of many' -

Before the thousands gathered at the congress in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's economic capital, the RHDP's leadership hailed Ouattara's stewardship of the country.

On his watch Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has seen seven-percent economic growth nearly every year.

"Ivory Coast has made major advances on the economic, social and cultural fronts, with sustained growth that has made us the envy of many," said Vice President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone.

Equipment minister Amedee Koffi Kouakou said Ouattara had made the country "a haven of peace" in an often restive region.

Yet the president's critics have pointed to the striking-off of his potential opponents from running in the upcoming vote as evidence of Ouattara's increasing abuses of power.

Besides ex-president Gbagbo, the courts have also prevented his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude and ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro from taking part in the race on legal grounds.

The PDCI's Thiam, who has been outside Ivory Coast since the middle of March, is barred for issues of nationality.

The authorities have insisted that the decisions were taken by the independent courts, denying any political intervention in the electoral processes.

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST