Côte d’Ivoire is taking a new step towards appeasement. To turn the page on political violence, President Alassane Ouattara on Saturday granted his pardon to his predecessor and former rival Laurent Gbagbo.
“In order to strengthen social cohesion, I signed a decree granting presidential pardon to Mr. Laurent Gbagbo,” said Alassane Ouattara in a speech on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the independence of Côte d’Ivoire. Ivory. The Head of State also announced that he had requested “that his accounts be unfrozen and his arrears of life annuities be paid”.
Gbagbo never worried since his return
He also indicated that he had signed a decree granting “conditional release” to two former figures of the military and security apparatus of Laurent Gbagbo’s regime, convicted for their role in the 2010-2011 crisis. They are Vice-Admiral Vagba Faussignaux, ex-boss of the Navy, and Commander Jean-Noël Abéhi, former head of the armored squadron of the gendarmerie at Agban camp in Abidjan.
Laurent Gbagbo, 77, definitively acquitted in March 2021 of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague where he had been transferred at the end of 2011, returned to his country on June 17, 2021 with the green light d Alassane Ouattara. Without ever having been worried since his return, he nevertheless remained under the influence in Côte d’Ivoire of a 20-year prison sentence for “the robbery” of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the crisis of 2010-2011. This was born of his refusal to recognize Ouattara’s victory in the presidential election at the end of 2010, which had led to violence that left some 3,000 dead until Gbagbo’s arrest in Abidjan in April 2011.
The grace comes shortly after a meeting on July 14 between Alassane Ouattara, Laurent Gbagbo and another former president, Henri Konan Bédié, both opponents. “A fraternal meeting” during which “we discussed, in a friendly atmosphere, on issues of national interest and on the ways and means of consolidating peace in our country”, said the Head of State on Saturday. . The two former presidents were also invited to participate this Sunday in the Independence Day celebrations in Yamoussoukro.
A “political dialogue” to avoid violence
Even before the final acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo by the ICC, the appeasement had begun during the legislative elections of March 2021 which had taken place without major incident. Won by the presidential party, they had nevertheless allowed the return of the opposition to the National Assembly, including the supporters of Laurent Gbagbo who boycotted all the polls since his defeat in 2010 after ten years in power. A “political dialogue” bringing together the government, political parties and civil society organizations has opened with a view to allowing the next local elections in 2023 and the presidential election in 2025 to take place without violence.