Ivorian opposition rejects plans for constitutional referendum

Twenty-three opposition parties in Ivory Coast on Thursday issued a joint declaration against President Alassane Ouattara's "au-thori-tarian" plans for a referendum on constitutional reforms.

The 73-year-old president was re-elected to a second five-year term in October promising to draft a new constitution, notably suppressing a clause on national identity that has driven bloody civil conflict.

The so-called "Ivorian-ness" clause in the existing charter, which took effect in 2000, stipulates that both parents of a presidential candidate must be born on Ivorian soil, and not have sought nationality in another country.

The clause became widely resented by people in northern Ivory Coast, many of whom have family ties in Burkina Faso and Mali, and raised a hurdle for Ouattara himself in his bid for the presidency.