Côte d'Ivoire: the return of Gbagbo, "a new opportunity for real reconciliation"
Poster for the return of Laurent Gbagbo, near his former headquarters in Cocody-Attoban.
Abidjan, June 17, 2021 © RFI / François Mazet
Text by: Nathalie Amar Follow
4 min
The return of Laurent Gbagbo to Côte d'Ivoire, this Thursday, June 17, was negotiated patiently, step by step, by the emissaries of the former president and those of the current head of state, Alassane Ouattara.
Fahiraman Rodrigue Koné, sociologist and researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), was in the special edition of RFI.
He analyzes how these negotiations can allow a peaceful return for the whole country.
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RFI: Do these long negotiations between power and the former president's emissary bode well for the future? Each took a step towards the other ...
Fahiraman Rodrigue Koné: Absolutely
, I think it's something very important.
These negotiations show once again that when the Ivorian leaders try to have a frank dialogue, it sends very good signals of appeasement to the population, although these negotiations are still indicators of the interests that are at stake, of what this truly represents. return in terms of political prospects.
We saw last October, during the presidential election, how fragile reconciliation or the start of reconciliation could be. There were still a hundred dead, many injured ...
Yes quite.
And this is a bit saddening in the Ivorian political context, when we see how political leaders often project speeches from the general point of view soothing and unfortunately, it follows immediately after dramatic sequences.
It is always assumed that the sincerity and the reality of the commitment produce a peaceful political climate.
[But] when electoral, I would say political, interests start to take over, very quickly the cracks return and social tensions become damaging.
In his interview at the end of October on TV5 Monde, Laurent Gbagbo did not call for civil disobedience. Did it help to bring the points of view closer with Alassane Ouattara and the delivery of his passport a few weeks later
?
This posture of Laurent Gbagbo was very significant in the way in which the electoral crisis was resolved. The opposition really needed leadership, because there was not really within this coalition, this conglomerate of actors, a spokesperson, I would say a figure who could cement and the opposition. Laurent Gbagbo was expecting this support which he gave in half-words: he practically disavowed, prevented this disobedience. This sent a very positive signal to the opponent, to Alassane Ouattara. And certainly, this played a part in appeasement and it facilitated the negotiations which followed on the possibility of his return.
You speak of signals and it is also a matter of signals, this reconciliation that Côte d'Ivoire has been seeking for ten years. In May, there was the return of political exiles. Today, the return of Laurent Gbagbo.
What can be the next step?
I believe that the next step is a step which brings back to the primary responsibility of this political elite which has accustomed us to a cosmetic rhetoric, but which always follows in dramatic sequences.
In 2001, Laurent Gbagbo in power had made Henri Konan Bedié return from exile, and Alassane Ouattara had organized a national reconciliation forum which was supposed to appease politics and boost democracy.
Unfortunately, a year later, we fell into a very long crisis.
We also remember that on the eve of the 2010 election, in the second round, there was this very good debate and these very positive signals of the good health of Ivorian democracy, but which unfortunately ended. by this murderous electoral crisis.
Once again, this is a window of opportunity for true national reconciliation.
The leading political elite is therefore faced with its responsibilities.
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Laurent Gbagbo
Ivory Coast
Alassane Ouattara