By Sidy YansanéPosted on 24-12-2019Changed on 24-12-2019 at 13:11

At 85, the former Ivorian president has lost none of his political temper. Fallen by a military coup at Christmas 1999, the one who is nicknamed the "Sphinx of Daoukro" experienced a long crossing of the desert. Scrambled with his ex-ally and current president Alassane Ouattara, he insisted on reinstalling his party, the PDCI, in power during the presidential election of 2020, even if it meant standing as a candidate.

“ It would be a revenge […]. It would do me justice, ”said Henri Konan Bédié to the weekly Jeune Afrique last September. " Yes ! Côte d'Ivoire and the Ivorian people need a new political, economic and social order that only the PDCI-RDA is able to offer them with dignity and respect for the institutions, "he claimed on December 19. a packed house of hundreds of activists at the Maison du Parti, the Abidjan seat of the historic Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI).

It must be said that Henri Konan Bédié keeps across his throat the overthrow of 1999 which made him fall from the presidential throne he had occupied for four years. That year, on Christmas Eve, a mutiny, which he underestimates, turns into a coup. The rebellious soldiers bring General Robert Guéï to power. Exfiltrated to Togo by the French army, Bédié, forced into exile, landed on January 3 with the former colonial power.

" If I finally had to give up staying on Ivorian soil, it was in order to avoid the carrying out of the explicit threats of bloodshed which could have affected the French soldiers who had been kind enough to ensure my protection, but also, no doubt, the French community, and perhaps other foreigners residing in Côte d'Ivoire ”, he declared a few days later in a column published in the daily Le Monde .

The birth of an alliance

Five months later, the Ivorian justice system launches an international arrest warrant for “ embezzlement of public funds ” against the ousted president. An accusation that he refutes. Henri Konan Bédié will nevertheless submit his candidacy for the presidential election in October 2000 , before it is rejected by the military junta. Bédié then called for a boycott of this electoral “ cheating ” from which the socialist Laurent Gbagbo, victorious for the occasion “ the baker of Abidjan ”, came out victorious, nickname as only the humourous Ivorian muse knows how to invent them, for having rolled the flour " Santa Claus in lattice ", the general-president-putschist and also candidate for the supreme office Robert Guéï.

To end his crossing of the desert, the former leader has no choice but to get closer to his longtime adversary, Alassane Ouattara ... What a reversal! In December 1993, on the death of the father of independence, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the two men - the president of the National Assembly Henri Konan Bédié and Prime Minister Allassane Ouattara - had fiercely opposed to succeed the patriarch. In the background, François Mitterrand had weighed in favor of the first. Before the 1995 presidential election, to prevent Ouattara from running, Henri Konan Bédié had questioned his birth rate and had launched the concept of "ivoirité", ordering all candidates to be born to an Ivorian father and mother.

In 2005, as Gbagbo's mandate officially expired, this alliance would give rise to the Rassemblement des Houphouëtistes pour la democratie et la paix (RHDP), a coalition of opposition parties including, among others, the PDCI and the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR) from Ouattara. An alliance described as " diabolical pact sealed to destroy Côte d'Ivoire " by the daily Notre Voie , media arm of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) of "Woody de Mama", another nickname affectionately attributed to Gbagbo, according to the name from his native village.

" Bédié is at the origin of the RHDP," asserts his former cabinet director and historian Jean-Noël Loucou . The objective was to associate all those who claim to be custodians of the heritage of the father of the nation Félix Houphouët-Boigny in order to counter Laurent Gbagbo. Proof that the PDCI still weighed its weight despite the coup and the exile of its president . It is true that this peace of the brave astonishes more than one, the two disciples of Houphouët historically nourishing a deep rivalry for each other.

" This is the whole history of Côte d'Ivoire since the 1990s : balance, the famous triangle ," explains political analyst Sylvain N'Guessan, director of the think tank Cercle de Réflexions Stratégiques d'Abidjan . Two political forces unite against a third to make it lose, then they divide before rallying the opponent then and it begins again, with alliances that are made and unmade . "

The serious political crisis which has led to the partition of the country since the attempt to overthrow the Gbagbo regime in September 2002, prevents the holding of the presidential election in 2005, offering the " baker " a lease for an additional five years. It was not until November 2010 that the RHDP proved its worth. Unhappy candidate in the first round, Bédié keeps his promise and supports Alassane Dramane Ouattara in the second round against the outgoing president.

The two finalists each claiming victory, then begins the most violent episode in the history of the country. Henri Konan Bédié and his ally remained entrenched at the Hôtel du Golf for months, until April 11, 2011 when Gbagbo was arrested at his residence by the Forces Nouvelles, assisted by the United Nations army and the French Licorne Force.

A new man at the head of the country

Once at the head of the country, the new head of state grants an important place to the men of Bédié in the management of the affairs of the country. " Having fifteen PDCI ministers in the government with strategic portfolios such as Mines, Foreign Affairs, a head of government who will later become vice-president, we are forced to recognize that the men of Bédié contributed to the government action and Ouattara's assessment , ”analyzes Sylvain N'Guessan.

Narcisse Yabo Anaman, first vice-president of the youth section of the party, goes further: “ Henri Konan Bédié constitutes the foundation of current power. He entrusted senior party officials with the mission of supporting the work of Alassane Ouattara. In the meantime, he fully assumed his function as president of the PDCI. "

In 2014, ADO joined HKB in Baoulé country, in its stronghold of Daoukro. At the end of their interview, the Sphinx announces that his party will not present a presidential candidate for 2015, in order to support the action of his ally, candidate for his own succession. It is the famous "Daoukro call".

Apart from a few party personalities who display their opposition to this decision, the overwhelming majority of activists are in favor of this unification which allows Côte d'Ivoire to return to political stability and economic growth after more than a decade. of misfortunes.

The Coalition for Democracy, Reconciliation and Peace

But things go wrong in 2018, precisely on the basis of "the call". " According to Bédié, the pact concluded in Daoukro stipulates that Ouattara sends the elevator back to the PDCI, by supporting a single candidacy from its ranks in 2020, which the RDR will refuse to recognize, " recalls analyst Sylvain N'Guessan. In retaliation, the former head of state opposes the transformation of the RHDP into a unified party, in which the allied political parties must merge, and switches to the opposition. “ Bédié has made many sacrifices. Without him, Ouattara would never have come to power, ”maintains the former“ dir'cab ”Jean-Noël Loucou.

With political arithmetic logic gaining the upper hand, the Baoulé leader is striving to form a new opposition alliance in order to take power from his best enemy. In 2019, he launched the Coalition for Democracy, Reconciliation and Peace, which brings together the FPI of Laurent Gbagbo and the Pan-African Congress for Justice and Equality of the Peoples of Charles Blé Goudé.

In January 2019, the former Ivorian president and his fiery youth minister were acquitted at first instance by the International Criminal Court of charges of crimes against humanity during the post-electoral crisis. In July 2019, Bédié even meets Gbagbo in Brussels, where the "Woody" is on parole pending a possible appeal validated by the judges. This alliance, ideologically unnatural, does not prevent the adhesion of the partisans of the two camps, the FPI, reinvigorated by the release of its champion, seeing there an opportunity to return politically in the race. The principle remains the same as with the RHDP coalition of 2010: whoever faces the presidential party in the second round of the election will receive support from the third.

Since the break with Alassane Dramane Ouattara, Henri Konan Bédié has multiplied disparaging protests against the government, accusing him in particular of a dictatorial and corrupt regime, which arbitrarily imprisons its detractors, and which seeks to padlock the next election through an independent electoral commission, a stumbling block to the political debate because it is considered by the opponents to be tailor-made for the RHDP. The divorce will cause a bleeding of executives at the PDCI, who sees brilliant elements turning their backs on it to espouse the ambitions of the RHDP.

These defections do not seem to worry unduly the party faithful, given the success of the meeting organized jointly with the pro-Gbagbo on October 19, which gathered hundreds of thousands of activists in Yamoussoukro, the administrative capital and city of the father of the Houphouët-Boigny nation. " This proves that the PDCI is not a dying party ", welcomes historian Loucou.

Towards a possible candidacy

It is only next June that the former single party will organize the nomination convention of its candidate. A role that the Sphinx does not exclude from assuming, despite its 85 years, by declaring on France 24 : " It could be that it is not me. It could be me . "A candidacy which poses no inconvenience to Narcisse Yabo Anaman of PDCI Youth:" With regard to the texts, he can quite stand as a candidate, the choice is up to him. It just lacks visibility on whoever could accompany him on the presidential ticket for the vice-presidency. I hope it will be a person embodying the new generation of the party . "

True to his reputation as a Sphinx, Henri Konan Bédié could therefore hold his "revenge" on History. But his competitor Alassane Ouattara already warns him and Laurent Gbagbo: “ If they are candidates, I will be too . "

► To (re) read: Henri Konan Bédié, "the sphinx of Daoukro" (1/2)

    On the same subject

    Henri Konan Bédié: "Soon an opposition platform with Gbagbo and Soro"

    Ivory Coast: Henri Konan Bédié responds to Alassane Ouattara's attacks

    Ivory Coast: Henri Konan Bédié receives PDCI executives in Daoukro

    Ivory Coast: end of Ouattara's tour of Henri Konan Bédié's land

    Meeting with Gbagbo, election of 2020: Henri Konan Bédié speaks on RFI

    comments