Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo, the card of the unifying opponent
Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo before the International Criminal Court in The Hague on January 28, 2016. AP Photo / Peter Dejong
Text by: Laurent Correau Follow
7 min
The interview given by Laurent Gbagbo to TV5 Monde marks the return of the former president on the Ivorian political scene.
Gbagbo, who is still in Brussels for the moment for lack of a passport, calls for negotiations to reduce tensions in the country, while affirming his anchoring in the opposition.
A political position which, for some analysts, has religious resonances and allows it to assert its place within the opposition.
Publicity
Read more
Nine years of long media silence.
And this
interview
that nobody expected.
“
In this fight which is being waged today around the 3rd term, I am Laurent Gbagbo, former head of state, former prisoner of the ICC, I am resolutely on the side of the opposition.
I am resolutely opposed to the practice of the third term.
But I say, given my experience, that we have to negotiate.
For his return to politics, Gbagbo decided to place himself above the current tensions.
It displays the figure of the sage released from the ordeal of the prison.
Laurent Gbagbo first dispels any ambiguity about his political position.
While there is a lot of talk about his return to Côte d'Ivoire, he reminds all those who might have wondered about his relations with the authorities that he is indeed opposed.
The anger of the anti-third term?
"
I understand it,
he says,
and I share it
".
The fault in the current tensions?
It falls, he explains, to the head of state Alassane Ouattara.
"
The others,
" he said
, "who are revolting because their common good, the Constitution, has been torn apart, we cannot blame them the same as on him.
"
► Also to listen
: Sylvain N'Guessan: "Laurent Gbagbo wants to remain the leader of the opposition"
According to political analyst Sylvain N'Guessan, who heads the Institute of Strategy of Abidjan, this point is "
welcome in his camp
": "
For some time, rumors have circulated that he there could have been exchanges with a view to the non-participation of Mr. Laurent Gbagbo in the political game for possibly a return to Côte d'Ivoire after the presidential election.
I think that Mr. Laurent Gbagbo is trying to reassure his camp that he is still with them, that he remains the captain, he is still playing his role as leader of the FPI and therefore of the opposition
”.
Resolutely in the opposition, Laurent Gbagbo deals in this interview a few blows to the power in place, by positioning himself as the guardian of the law.
This position is all the more practical to adopt as it has remained, by constraint, withdrawn from the Ivorian political game in recent years.
"
One of the political problems in Africa,
says former teacher,
is that written texts in disbelief.
It is written in the Constitution that the number of terms is limited to two.
Why do we want to do a third term
?
"
The former president invokes in particular the law in two cases which concern him: that of his candidacy and that of the passport which is slow to be given to him for a return to Côte d'Ivoire.
On his candidacy, and the candidacy of the 39 other candidates excluded from the competition, he speaks of “
childish
”
behavior
.
The non-delivery of his passport is described as a "
bad way
", a rule not respected.
Religious symbolism
"
It's like a political resurrection,"
analyzes Arsène Brice Bado, teacher-researcher at CERAP, the Abidjan Center for Peace Research and Action
, because his supporters have long been waiting for him to speak.
He spoke by invoking his responsibility for peace in Côte d'Ivoire and called for a resumption of political dialogue.
"
According to the political science researcher of the University of Bouaké, Ousmane Zina, Laurent Gbagbo's words even have religious resonances: “
This return has something of the return of pilgrimage,
explains the academic,
something spiritual.
He returns with the mantle of purity after his incarceration by the ICC, as washed from his sins.
And he makes sure that this coat of purity sticks to the contradictions of the moment
”.
The main message of this interview is indeed the call for negotiation to avoid what the former president describes as a "
chasm
", a "
catastrophe
".
"
This is why I am speaking,"
explains Laurent Gbagbo, "
so that people know that I do not agree to go hand in hand with the disaster.
So that people know that I said there was something else to do.
He then calls out to Ivorian politicians as a sage would do when he returns to a torn family.
“
It is peace that is threatened in Côte d'Ivoire, that is what must be negotiated.
And for that, I call them all to come together, to sit down
”.
For the opponent, it is up to President Alassane Ouattara to take the first step because, he says, "
it is through him that the fault came, the fault of violating the Constitution
".
Although he breaks the silence, Laurent Gbagbo is silent on any instructions to his supporters.
He did not call them to take to the streets as he had done in October 2000, letting them learn the lessons themselves from his dual positioning as opponent and defender of dialogue.
For Ousmane Zina, this is part of a perfectly controlled political discourse: “
First of all, he knows that his trial is not completely finished, that he is still on appeal.
He could not therefore take the risk of sending a signal to his supporters who could have turned against him ... Then, since he is negotiating his return to Côte d'Ivoire, given the strength of the current power, he would have more to lose what to gain from a confrontation in the street.
Finally, even if the strategy of the street would have worked, he could not have drawn the fruits, since he is in exile.
"
Sylvain Nguessan believes that the former president has measured the changes that have occurred in a decade: “
The memories of 2010-2011 are still alive in people's minds.
So taking risks in the streets, I do not believe that is the will of many Ivorians today.
In my opinion, the street cannot mobilize as it did in the years 2010-2011.
I do not think so.
So negotiation will be the best way, in such a context, to find the appropriate solution for Côte d'Ivoire post October 31
”.
► To read also: Ivorian presidential: Laurent Gbagbo comes out of his silence and calls to avoid "the catastrophe"
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
our selection
Ivory Coast
Laurent Gbagbo
On the same subject
Ivorian presidential: Laurent Gbagbo comes out of his silence and calls to avoid "the catastrophe"
Ivory Coast: the issue of community violence stirs the presidential campaign