IVORY COAST
IVORY COAST – Gbagbo Meeting – Ouattara: After the euphoria, questions
The long-awaited meeting between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara took place on Tuesday, to the general satisfaction of the Ivorians who admired the relaxed atmosphere that prevailed yesterday at the presidential palace in Abidjan. A fundamental step has been taken towards national reconciliation in Côte d’Ivoire, this is true. But after the euphoria, you have to ask yourself the right questions about what happens next.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021! This day will certainly be inscribed in the political annals of Côte d’Ivoire. So much has it left its mark! Indeed, this Tuesday, Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo gave Ivorians, Africans and beyond, the whole world, an extraordinary show. The two enemy brothers shared hugs, wide smiles and warm handshakes. They held hands and spoke with one voice.
“How are you, Laurent? Good to see you». It was with these words that the Ivorian President welcomed his predecessor on the porch of the presidential palace, as he descended from the vehicle in which he had taken his seat. After a 30-minute one-on-one meeting, the two men greeted a “fraternal” and “relaxed” meeting in front of the press. The Ivorians did not expect anything better. This meeting is an essential step in the process of national reconciliation in Côte d’Ivoire.
Gbagbo meeting – Ouattara, yes. And then?
Beyond the symbolic act that took place yesterday, it is important to examine the sequence of events. Given the deep differences between them, we can wonder if the broad smiles, the complicity displayed in front of the cameras by the two ex-rivals were sincere. All the more so since his return to Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo has not given a gift to Alassane Ouattara in his interventions. Less than a month ago, in Daoukro, at the home of Henri Konan Bédié, he did not hesitate to attack the third mandate of Alassane Ouattara.
“If we don’t want the country to burn, we have to respect what is written,” he said, adding, “we can decide that we have no Constitution and live like that. But if we have a Constitution, we have to fight to be on the side of the Constitution. Respect the texts, respect human beings”. Before Daoukro, Laurent Gbagbo had already launched a few pickets at Alassane Ouattara, in his village, in Mama. “An awkward competitor had to be removed and I was transferred to The Hague,” he said.
A few days ago, the Ouattara and Gbagbo camps exchanged insanity. But it is true that in Mama, Laurent Gbagbo had also emphasized an essential element in democracy: If we must always agree, there is no more democracy. It is because we do not agree that there is democracy. Here, we are holding discussions.” In any case, the very good atmosphere that prevailed yesterday at the presidential palace in Abidjan, if it were desired and is welcomed, should not however lull the Ivorians.
Moreover, on social networks, their reactions go in all directions. While Ousmane Adell Diakité extols like many other Ivorians, Touré Siaka Moustapha tempers. The first writes, in fact: My heartfelt congratulations to the Presidents and many thanks to the President ADO for his greatness of spirit to see a united and reconciled Côte d’Ivoire in itself. It is a strong signal to all statesmen and opinion leaders to resolve their differences for the happiness of their people.”
And the second reacted: Let us hope that Ouattara is sincere. In my opinion, a meeting of this kind does not necessarily answer the problem that hinders national reconciliation, except during civil disobedience, the same Ouattara had a meeting with President Bédié, but it did absolutely nothing. The good faith of man must be called into question, I personally do not believe in this gentleman until he really opens the voice of discussion with all Ivorian political actors without distinction».
The sequence of events will allow us to get a precise idea of the sincerity or not of the two men. For example, Alassane Ouattara is expected on the issue of the release of Laurent Gbagbo’s supporters arrested during the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011 and who are still behind bars. Is the Ivorian President ready to meet this request of his predecessor? Will it allow the release of prisoners as it has allowed in recent weeks, the return to the country of several political exiles? Let’s wait and see.
Meetings are announced, after August, between the two Presidents, with the association of other Ivorian political actors at the appropriate time, since, as Alassane Ouattara himself pointed out, “it is important to restore trust and to ensure that Ivorians reconcile.”
The two men, and especially Alassane Ouattara who presides over the destinies of Côte d’Ivoire, are expected on this ground of the restoration of trust which is indispensable for reconciliation. And trust-building means inclusive dialogue.
Source : Ecofine
The Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) won the majority of Ivorian town halls and regional councils, after the double election on Saturday, according to the Independent Electoral Commission which proclaimed the final results on Monday, September 04, 2023.
It is a tidal wave in favor of the Gathering of Houphouëtistes for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), the party of the president of Alassane Ouattara after the municipal and regional elections of September 2, 2023. The party obtained 125 municipalities out of 201 and 25 regions out of 30. We remember the victory of Prime Minister Patrick Achi, in the Mé, that of Mamadou Touré, the Minister of Youth in Haut-Sassandra; the victory of Anne Ouloto, the Minister of Public Service, in the Cavally (west), that of the minister Director of cabinet of the presidency, Fidèle Sarrassoro in the Poro (north).
The two main opposition parties, the African People’s Party-Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) and the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), allies in many localities, are gaining a region, Nawa, and ten communes like Lakota and Bloléquin. Although it has fewer communes compared to the 2018 election, the PDCI of Henri Konan Bédié remains in its fiefs: Yamoussoukro, Daoukro, Toumodi, the Iffou region or in Aries. Outside the alliance, Laurent Gbagbo’s PPA-CI gained two communes.
“Acceptable” Participation
The Ivorian Popular Front loses Moronou, the stronghold of Pascal Affi N’Guessan and comes out of this double election without any elected representatives.
The turnout remains substantially the same in the 2018 elections: it amounts to 44.61% for the regional election and 36.18% for the municipal elections. A rate that the President of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) considers “acceptable”.
Still removed from the electoral list three months before the local elections, Laurent Gbagbo tabled on Thursday, June 8, 2023 an appeal to the Independent Electoral Commission. Acquitted by the ICC of crimes against humanity committed during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, he remains under a 20-year prison sentence in Côte d’Ivoire for the “robbery” of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in 2011. Pardoned by the presidency, but not granted amnesty, he is still deprived of his civil rights.
Laurent Gbagbo visited the office of the Abidjan Independent Electoral Commission in a small committee. The PPA-CI activists had been ordered not to move, and respected it.
The former president personally signed his appeal to the CIS. Before going out to make a statement to the press. He went back on his conviction by the Ivorian courts in the case of the BCEAO’s “robbery” in 2011, an accusation he says he “strongly refutes”.
I don’t know why I was judged. No one summoned me because in order to have a trial, the accused is summoned and given a summons where he resides. Everyone in the world knows where I was living at the time of this trial. I was at the ICC!”
Laurent Gbagbo ended his speech with a call for peace. “The time for the blows is over,” he argued, before urging Henri Konan Bédié and Alassane Ouattara to work together to “leave the younger generations a peaceful Ivory Coast.” But he won’t give up his civil rights, he promised, concluding, “I won’t let my name get dirty without a fight.”
Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo will not be able to participate in his country’s local elections scheduled for 02 September 2023. And for good reason, He is still removed from the electoral list published Saturday, May 20, 2023, a decision described as “unacceptable provocation” by his party. While Gbagbo was acquitted by international justice of crimes against humanity committed during the bloody post-election crisis of 2010-2011, he remains under a 20-year prison sentence in Côte d’Ivoire for the “robbery” the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in 2011. This conviction, pronounced in 2018 while he was imprisoned in The Hague, had resulted in the loss of his civil and political rights and thus his removal from the electoral lists.
And the pardon granted by President Alassane Ouattara last year in this case does not change this status. On Saturday, during the publication of the electoral list in Abidjan, Sébastien Dano Djédjé, an executive of the African Peoples Party-Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), Gbagbo’s party, denounced an “unjust” decision. This calls into question the credibility of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The electoral process is losing credibility,’ he added, before leaving the ceremony with the party delegation.
“We are not picking on Laurent Gbagbo. There is a court decision that is not the work of the CIS. The CIS is simply carrying out what the law says,’ said Commission President Kuibiert Coulibaly, stating that “11,000 people” have been deprived of their civil and political rights.
On Saturday afternoon, the PPA-CI held a press conference to denounce an “unacceptable provocation”. Such stubbornness on the part of the Ivorian regime poses serious risks to peace and social cohesion,’ said Justin Koné Katinan, spokesman for Mr Gbagbo’s party. This omission from the electoral list “constitutes a casus belli”, he added.
The PPA-CI is based in particular on a decision of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights that ordered in 2020 the reinstatement of the former Ivorian president on the electoral list. The party authorities will meet shortly to consider possible remedies. Complaints can be made to the IEC until 8 June.
After the 2020 presidential election, which saw the re-election of Alassane Ouattara for a controversial third term and where violence had caused 85 deaths and 500 injuries, Côte d’Ivoire experienced a period of calm in the political climate. The 2021 legislative elections were held in calm and former president Laurent Gbagbo was able to return to Côte d’Ivoire in June 2021, after his acquittal by the ICC. On two occasions, he even met with President Ouattara to “describe the political climate” in Côte d’Ivoire.
But the last few weeks have been marked by tensions between the two opposing sides during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011, which caused 3,000 deaths.
In particular, the PPA-CI accused the authorities of “exploiting the justice system” after the arrest in February of 26 of its activists for “disturbing public order” on the sidelines of a demonstration in Abidjan. Sentenced in the first instance to two years in prison, they were given two years of suspended sentence on appeal.
Some eight million voters are called to the polls on September 2 in Côte d’Ivoire to renew municipal and regional councils. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2025.
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