After ten years of absence, the former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo returns Thursday, June 17 to Abidjan, barely three months after his final acquittal of crimes against humanity by international justice and the green light for his return given by his rival, President Alassane Ouattara, in the name of "national reconciliation".
Opponent, president, prisoner: throughout his political career, he went through phases of glory and decline which did not affect his popularity among his people in Côte d'Ivoire.
Back on his journey.
Laurent Gbagbo's hearing before the International Criminal Court, February 19, 2013 (Credit: AFP)
>> To read: A look back at the key dates that led to his trial
Union activist
At 76 years old, Laurent Gbagbo, under the air of good men, hides an iron will and a ferocious energy.
He learned a lot from his long years of opposition to President Félix Houphouët-Boigny (died in 1993), the "father of the Nation", long the first relay of France in sub-Saharan Africa.
Born on May 31, 1945, educated at the seminary and historian by training, Laurent Gbagbo quickly irritated the authorities with his union activism.
Incorporated by force and imprisoned, he went into exile in France in the 1980s, after having clandestinely founded the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI).
A member of the Bété (West) ethnic group, excluded from the traditional sharing of power, he openly entered politics in 1990 with the first elections marked under the sign of multipartyism: he then became the leader of the opposition.
On February 18, 1992, when the country was marked by student demonstrations, Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara had Laurent Gbagbo arrested.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, before being released in August of the same year.
Skillful vs. rogue
His day arrives on October 26, 2000 when he takes the presidency, under conditions of his own admission "calamitous", after a ballot from which the former head of state Henri Konan Bédié and Alassane were excluded. Ouattara.
Laurent Gbagbo inducted as President of Côte d'Ivoire on October 26, 2000 (Credit: Issouf Sanogo)
A fierce nationalist, Laurent Gbagbo resists the rebellion which tries to overthrow him in September 2002. A skilful politician for some, "rogue" for others, he manages to keep his chair in the face of the rebels, the opposition and an international community led by France, but loses control of the north of the country, which will live for years cut in two.
Behind this coup attempt, he sees the hand of Alassane Ouattara, who denies it. Whoever defines himself as "the man of the people" relies on his young supporters, the "patriots", who set the streets on fire. French soldiers of the Licorne force are trying to maintain a precarious ceasefire while Paris plays the role of mediator to try to initiate a process of reconciliation. In vain.
The Ivorian army launched an offensive in November 2004 to retake the North. Jacques Chirac, French president at the time, tried to dissuade Laurent Gbagbo from any intervention without succeeding. On November 6, the Ivorian army bombarded French soldiers based in Bouaké, a stronghold of rebels from the North. The French army responded and neutralized the Ivorian air force. The tension is high in Abidjan, where the pro-Gbagbo target the French community. If Laurent Gabgbo fails to reconquer the north militarily, he poses as a hero of African pride against France.
President Jacques Chirac (C) and his Ivorian counterpart Laurent Gbagbo (L), February 05, 2004 in Paris, after a lunch which marks a reconciliation at the highest level between France and its former colony.
(Credit: Patrick Kovarik)
A peace agreement was finally signed in 2007 with the rebels of Guillaume Soro.
But the political process remains blocked with no less than six postponements of the presidential election, finally set for 2010. Laurent Gbagbo then launches into the race and finds in the second round Alassane Ouattara, who has initiated a military operation to expel him from the palace. presidential.
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo shakes hands with Burkinabé President Blaise Compaoré (c) and rebel leader Guillaume Soro in Ouagadougou in preparation for a peace agreement, March 4, 2007.
Political animal
In 2010, following the presidential election of November 28, the outgoing president of Côte d'Ivoire stubbornly refused to admit defeat.
He stood up for four months to his enemy Alassane Ouattara and the international community, even if it meant plunging the country into crisis.
The violence killed more than 3,000 people in five months.
>> To read: A look back at the key dates that led to his trial
On December 3, the Constitutional Council, committed to its cause, proclaimed the victory of Laurent Gbagbo with 51.45%, invalidating the results of the electoral commission, however "certified" by the UN, and which gave Alassane Ouattara the winner (54 , 1%).
Surrounded in his presidential residence in Abidjan with his wife Simone, his son Michel and a handful of faithful, Laurent Gbagbo "will fight to his last breath", warned one of his relatives at the very beginning of the post-crisis. electoral. On April 11, 2011, while the fighting has been raging for ten days in the Cocody district, pro-Ouattara soldiers advance on the ground, supported by the French army and the United Nations Mission (Onuci) and arrest Laurent Gbagbo . He was taken to the Hôtel du Golf, Alassane Ouattara's headquarters and campaign headquarters, before being transferred to the north of the country where he was under house arrest for eight months, before being transferred to The Hague. On May 21, Alassane Ouattara is invested. He will be re-elected in 2015.
Laurent Ggbagbo and his wife Simone arrested in their residence in Abidjan on April 11, 2011.
Before the ICC
On November 30, 2011, Laurent Gbagbo was imprisoned in the detention center of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, joined on March 22, 2014 by one of his relatives, Charles Blé Goudé, former leader of the Young Patriots movement .
Their trial began in January 2016. Laurent Gbagbo is the first former head of state to be prosecuted by the ICC.
They are accused of four counts of crimes against humanity: murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts.
They plead not guilty.
In Abidjan, Laurent Gbagbo's wife, Simone, against whom the ICC also issued an arrest warrant in 2012, was sentenced in March 2015 to 20 years in prison for endangering state security.
Accused of "crime against humanity", "crime against prisoners of war" and "crimes against civilians", she was acquitted on March 28, 2017 during a new trial, a decision overturned by the Supreme Court.
She was finally released in August 2018, after a presidential amnesty to promote national reconciliation.
Laurent Gbagbo at the opening of his trial, in The Hague, January 28, 2016. AFP - PETER DEJONG
Acquittal
On January 15, 2019, Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé were acquitted by the ICC. In February, they were released under conditions, before a possible appeal trial. In November, Ivorian justice sentenced Laurent Gbagbo on appeal in absentia to 20 years in prison for the "robbery" of the Central Bank of West African States during the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011. Charles Blé Goudé was sentenced the following month to 20 years in prison for crimes committed during this crisis.
In May 2020, the ICC authorizes Laurent Gbagbo under conditions to leave Belgium, where he has been under house arrest since his acquittal.
On September 14, the Ivorian Constitutional Council rejected some forty candidates for the October presidential election, including that of Laurent Gbagbo.
The ballot was won by Alassane Ouattara, whose controversial candidacy for a third term led to violence killing nearly 100 people.
Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo follow his trial on February 6, 2020 in Abidjan.
AFP - SIA KAMBOU
In the spring of 2021, the legislative elections were marked by the great return to the electoral game of the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) of Laurent Gbagbo, which boycotted all the polls since his arrest.
The ruling party wins the legislative elections, but loses the qualified majority.
On March 31, 2021, the ICC definitively confirms the acquittals of Laurent Gbagbo and Blé Goudé and lifts the restrictions on their release.
A few days later, President Ouattara gave the green light for the return of his rival to Côte d'Ivoire.
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