Ivory Coast: Catholic Church wants peaceful electoral process

Text by: RFI Follow

In Côte d'Ivoire, the Catholic Church wants to contribute to the appeasement of the socio-political climate, before the presidential election of October 2020. Saturday February 15, it organized a giant mass in favor of peace at the Saint-Cathédrale Paul of Abidjan, in which hundreds of believers participated. Originally, this rally was to be accompanied by a march in the streets of the city center, but the demonstration was finally canceled to avoid possible overflows.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Abidjan , Sidy Yansané

" Let's go to peace! ". It was the slogan underlined by the giant mass organized on the forecourt of the Saint-Paul cathedral of the Plateau. Several hundred faithful attended this exceptional prayer, including Jacques Ehouo, mayor of Plateau, of the PDCI opposition party, Marcel Amon Tanoh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, affiliated to the ruling RHDP party as well as Michel Gbagbo, the son of the former president currently on trial at the ICC. After the 3,000 dead in the 2011 civil war, the Ivorians hope for another scenario for the presidential election next October: " We have come to pray for peace, given the atmosphere of the country, given the horizon which is a bit blurry, with what you feel, ” said the latter . " It is not only a matter for Catholics, it is a matter for all Ivorians in fact. We are all concerned with peace, because in war, we cannot build anything , ”said this participant again.

Mass was first to be accompanied by a religious procession. But, with the possible participation of the opposition and violent threats launched on social networks, the march was canceled. What does it matter for Father Lawrence Eugène Awondji, parish priest of Sainte-Anne parish in the commune of Abobo; for him, the rally was a success: “ These initiatives are beautiful, we hope that the other religious denominations, why not, follow in the footsteps of the Catholic Church to pray, to go in this direction. We want peaceful elections, we want peace for our country. "

It is not the first time that the Church has worried about the risks of political violence. Last June, she raised this cry of alarm: " Avoid us another war. "

► The return to Côte d'Ivoire of Gbagbo and Blé Goudé under discussion before the ICC

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Ivory Coast
• Religion
• Ivory Coast Politics

On the same subject

Ivory Coast: eight months before the election, a political dialogue stalled?

Ivory Coast: Pascal Affi N'Guessan mediates on the Gbagbo case

Ivory Coast

Monsignor Koné on RFI: "There is a decline in identity" in Côte d'Ivoire