Ivorian ex-premier to quit IMF for return to politics

Ivorian former prime minister Alassane Ouattara will return to political life in time for the presidential elections in the year 2000, Radio France Internationale reported. Ouattara served as prime minister from 1990 to 1993 under the late President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, but did not stand in the divisive 1995 presidential elections. He became deputy director of the International Monetary Fund, but announced in Abidjan on Sunday that he would leave the IMF in the second quarter of 1999, when his contract there ends. "I will return home to be at the disposal of my country, and also to contribute to its development.

This implies that, having held a political office, I cannot stay out of politics," he told reporters before returning to his job in Washington. The radio broadcast his remarks. He did not say whether he would run for president, but the radio said his return ought to reunite the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party, which it said "is torn apart at present" .

The RDR was hit by the recent defection to the government of Adama Coulibaly, the party's erstwhile second-in-command, the radio said. The RDR considers Ouattara to be its tacit candidate for the 2000 poll, the radio said.

Source: BBC

Abdul-Rahman al-Iryani, dies at 89

Abdul-Rahman al-Iryani, President of northern Yemen from 1967 to 1974, died Saturday in exile in Syria. He was 89. Mr. Iryani died in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where he had lived since 1974. He gained widespread popularity and respect as one of the leaders of the al-Ahrar opposition group, which opposed Yemen's Mutawakilite kings.

Mr. Iryani was sentenced to death by beheading in 1955 for his activities with al-Ahrar, Arabic for ''the free.'' Minutes before his execution by sword, he was granted a reprieve by Imam Ahmad bin Yahya Hamidaddin.

Mr. Iryani spent more than 15 years in prison during the rule of the Mutawakilite, which ended in 1962. He served as minister of religious endowments under northern Yemen's first national government and is the only civilian to have led northern Yemen.

Source: New York Times