French press review
Headlines: Gbagbo pardoned, true-false step towards reconciliation
Audio 04:29
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo at the presidential palace in Abidjan, July 27, 2021. © REUTERS / Luc Gnago
By: Norbert Navarro
5 mins
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Nearly five hundred days after his final acquittal by the International Criminal Court, President Laurent Gbagbo is pardoned by his successor Alassane Ouattara.
The announcement was made last night, on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the independence of Côte d'Ivoire.
She is already leaving part of the Ivorian press unsatisfied.
For once, and exclusively, a look at the first comments from the Ivorian press which will be published – not tomorrow, Monday, a public holiday – but Tuesday, on newsstands, in Côte d'Ivoire.
Starting with that of the newspaper
Le Temps
, close among those close to Laurent Gbagbo, and in which the jurist Roger Dakouri will express his disappointment in these terms, describing this grace as a "
wrong way
", but also denouncing "
a glaring absence and unjustified desire to move resolutely towards reconciliation
".
According to him, “
Ouattara leaves the Ivorians hungry.
We thought he was going to free all civilian and military prisoners.
What no
!
“, will still launch Roger Dakouri, interviewed last night by
Le Temps
.
Another comment to be published on Tuesday, that of
Soir Info
.
This independent Ivorian newspaper will consider that the pardon granted to Laurent Gbagbo constitutes "
a step towards national reconciliation, a strong decision by the Head of State towards his fiercest political adversary but which is far from being decisive (...) The supporters of the president of the PPA-CI would have liked the total erasure of his sentence by an amnesty law
".
Under the pen of the Ivorian journalist Armand Depeyla,
Soir Info
will estimate that "
behind this presidential pardon, there could be hidden, surreptitiously, a desire of the president of the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la democratie et la paix to block the way to Laurent Gbagbo in 2025
», scheduled date of the next presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire.
Ukraine, towards a Korean score or
Apocalypse Now
?
“
Where is Ukraine going
?
asks the weekly
Marianne
.
After having warned her readers about a "
Third World War
", which, according to this magazine, "
is not ruled out
",
Marianne
publishes an analysis signed by the former Secretary of State and President of the association Les Chantiers of freedom, Pierre Lellouche, according to whom, in this armed conflict, there remain "
two hypotheses, and only two
: this war can only end, in the best of cases for Ukraine, by a Korean-style situation
: that is to say, a line of ceasefire and demarcation which will consecrate the stranglehold of Russia on the east and the south of Ukraine, the rest of the country, amputated and neutralized by force, remaining at the expense of the European taxpayer, since for convenience, again, the EU has just opened its doors to Kyiv's accession
;
second hypothesis, the worst as in 1914, a local territorial conflict, nationalist passion, the game of alliances and the bewilderment of sleepwalking leaders can lead to a new collective suicide
– another one
!
– but which, this time, will possibly be nuclear... Can we still hope that our leaders will finally wake up and decide to gather around a table to stop this disastrous drift
?
», begs
Pierre Lellouche in
Marianne
.
Plea for Afghan Women
The weeklies
L'Obs
and
Le Point
traveled to Afghanistan to see the fate reserved for women by the Taliban.
As noted by
Le Point
, barely a year after coming to power, the new masters of the country “
have already erased Afghan women from public space.
In Kabul, posters depicting women have been painted black.
In the shop windows, the faces of the female mannequins have been covered with a thick veil
”.
In
Le Point
,
women testify with uncovered faces
.
As this former counter-terrorism officer at the Ministry of the Interior testifies.
Mursal Heidari, that's her name, now lives with her husband and three children in a basement bedroom: "
I can't sleep anymore,
she told this weekly,
and I spend my time to wait for the next day
”.
As
Le Point
points out , this 30-year-old is a graduate in political science.
Previously, she aspired to "
become general
", she who was in charge of the fight against Islamist fighters and who was "
recognized by her peers for the quality of her work
", points out this newspaper.
"
It was a time of great excitement,
she says about the old republican regime, which allowed Afghan women to work despite still tenacious tribal traditions.
We were building a new country, and as a woman I was proud to defend it.
But that was before… Now, “
to kill boredom, she spent her day tattooing her feet with henna.
Her loose scarf shows a few rebellious brown locks
”.
Heart touching.
Also report from the weekly
L'Obs
in a clandestine school for girls
.
"
Most of the students want to become doctors to help Afghan women, and also out of pragmatism
: it is now the only female profession that the Taliban tolerate with that of nurse and midwife
", explains this magazine.
Which also evokes the "
marriage
" of girls "
from the age of one year
" and who are "
sold by their families ruined by war and threatened by famine
".
The Obs
thus reporting the case of a child sold to her now in-laws "
10,000
afghanis or 108 euros
".
Taboo subject, forbidden subject, admits
L'Obs
, "
but omnipresent in the poorest regions
".
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Ivory Coast
Alassane Ouattara
Laurent Gbagbo
Ukraine
Russia
Afghanistan
Women
Taliban