By RFIPublished on 12/22/2019 Modified on 12/22/2019 at 2:53 p.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed this Sunday by thousands of residents of Bouaké, the former rebel capital, the last stop on his visit to Côte d'Ivoire.

In Bouaké, it was a ceremony in two stages: first, a moment of meditation of the two heads of state and their wife in front of a circle of flags placed on the ground. Nine French flags and one American, in homage to each of the victims of this November 6, 2004, and positioned in the heart of the area hit by the bombing in what was then a logistics base of the French force Licorne. Some buildings, completely blown at the time, have since been rebuilt ; others have only been rehabilitated and bear traces of the explosions covered with white paint.

Second highlight outside the school, in front of the commemorative stele, unveiled by Alassane Ouattara and Emmanuel Macron, untying a small red cord after the names of the victims have been shelled. Each in turn, the two presidents then laid a wreath in the colors of the French, then Ivorian flags, before the ringing of the dead, a minute of silence followed by the hymns of the two countries.

A sober ceremony

A short ceremony of ten minutes, without speech by Emmanuel Macron. The Élysée Palace knows that with this tribute, it is reopening a sensitive page in history for Côte d'Ivoire, but also for Franco-Ivorian relations , and recognized a few days ago that it was " delicate " to approach this moment.

It must be said that there are gray areas on this attack despite 15 years of judicial investigation. Many questions remain unanswered: who is the sponsor of the attack? What was his goal? Several versions still clash.

Asked about this yesterday, Emmanuel Macron did not wish to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings. The Élysée intends above all, with this moment, to seal reconciliation with the Ivorians while Paris and Abidjan want to go further today in their military cooperation.

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