In the spotlight: new events in Côte d'Ivoire

Audio 04:00

By: Sébastien Duhamel

Publicity

"  Demonstrations recorded in several cities  ", we can read on the site Abidjan.net . It displays on the front page a photo of a street in Abidjan blocked by tables and overturned bins, inflamed tires. "  As announced, article writing , youth, members of parties and groups of the Ivorian opposition stormed the streets Thursday, August 13 cities of the country to say no to a third term of Alassane Ouattara  ." A third mandate which would be for the leaders of the opposition "  a violation of the Constitution  " recalls Abidjan.net.

Result: "  In Bonoua, Divo, Sikenssi, Adzopé and other towns, roads were thus blocked  ". In Abidjan, "  clashes even broke out between police officers and demonstrators who tried to erect barricades on the main roads,  " the site reports. Before reporting, in another article , a press release from the Ministry of Security warning that "  the instigators of the disturbances and their perpetrators will answer for their acts before justice  ".

"  The war of nerves is likely to continue until October 31  ", headline L'Intelligent d'Abidjan

The daily also returns to the demonstrations of Thursday. Demonstrations "  unauthorized and fatal, with deaths  ", we can read. So much so that the article, in the body of the newspaper, asks: "  Are civil peace and reconciliation possible in Côte d'Ivoire ?" The dream carried by Houphouët-Boigny, that of a common destiny that would bring together 60 ethnic groups, in order to form the Ivorian people, people of a great nation, can it continue ?  "

For the Intelligent of Abidjan , faced with the opposition's desire to take revenge and bring  down  the president, “  it is now a question of seeing the resilience capacity of Alassane Ouattara in the face of the ordeal. , and in the ordeal. Beyond appearances and the "story telling" of continuous stability since 2011, continues the daily, the Ouattara decade was not a long quiet river.  "The newspaper remembers here"  the demonstrations against the referendum and popular discontent in 2016, the mutinies of 2017 which could have won power, strikes by civil servants etc ...  "Crises that"  Alassane Ouattara had managed with the support from Bédié, from Duncan, from Tanoh, from Mabri, from Soro… But today they have gone to look elsewhere,  ”writes L'Intelligent . He also recalls: “  The 3,000 deaths in 2010-2011 were not killed in a single day, but after 5-6 months of crisis. We are already at least three dead, with horrible scenes !  The intelligent concluded: "  Are we still going to try to measure ourselves, to measure each one's strength before committing to the electoral cycle properly? "

An Ivorian situation that challenges the West African press

“  Abidjan on fire and blood  ”, headlines Walf in Senegal. Walf who warns: “  If President Alassane Ouatara persists in maintaining his candidacy, the Ebrié lagoon country could plunge into a new crisis.  "

"  Against a " 3rd term of Ouattara ", Abidjan hostage of demonstrations  ", also displays the front page of 24 Hours , another Senegalese newspaper which looks back on the clashes of yesterday as well as on the arrest of four women of Generations and Solidarity Peoples , GPS, the movement of Guillaume Soro. Arrests "  occurred in Cocody, in the east of Abidjan  ", explains the daily which quotes the names of those concerned, among which we find Anne-Marie Bonifon, the coordinator of the movement.

In its opinion pieces, 24 Heures also believes that the candidacy of Alassane Ouattara risks "  plunging  " the area of ​​the West African Economic and Monetary Union "  into uncertainties  ". A Uémoa zone which nevertheless displays “  a growth rate of over 6% for the 7th consecutive year  ”, writes 24 Heures . The newspaper is also worried, in its own country, of the "  game  " of Macky Sall. We can read: "  The current Senegalese president still maintains a chiaroscuro on a possible third term to the point of dismissing anyone who dares to talk about it.  "

“  Towards a 2010 remake?  "

In Burkina Faso, the Observer Paalga wonders if the Ivory Coast is heading "  towards a remake of 2010  ".

He underlines in his editorial: "  It is the fate of all of Côte d'Ivoire that is at stake.  " And "  less than this politico-legal squabble between the two camps (on the constitutionality of a third term), continues Observer Paalga , it is the showdown that is playing out through the streets that raises many concerns  ”. Because, we can still read "  like a ship that heads straight for reefs, the country of Houphouët Boigny is gradually getting bogged down in another political crisis with an uncertain outcome  ". The Burkinabè newspaper therefore wonders: "  Will the Ivorian political class as a whole be able to rise above partisan, individual and selfish interests to favor the stability of the country ?"  "Before concluding that"  nothing is less certain.  "

But Wakat Sera relaunched  : "  If Alassane Ouattara, who knows how to proclaim himself heir to the sage of Yamoussoukro , (Houphouet Boigny), could act with an ounce of wisdom from the" Old ", he would calm things down by bringing everyone back under the tree in palaver, where all misunderstandings end, and even the longest wars. He is the head of the family and that would be to his credit,  ”said Wakat Sera.

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• Newspaper
• Ivory Coast
• Alassane Ouattara