Ivory Coast: Affi N'Guessan continues to defend his leadership against Gbagbo within the FPI
Laurent Gbagbo, ex-president and founder of the FPI (l.) And Pascal Affi N'Guessan, outgoing president of the FPI (r.) Reuters
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3 min
It has been almost a month since Laurent Gbagbo returned to Côte d'Ivoire.
On the weekend of July 10 and 11, he paid a first visit to Henri Konan Bédié in Daoukro.
But if the former president has chosen to put aside his rivalry with his new ally of the PDCI, he has not yet formally met Pascal Affi N'Guessan.
The discord between the former head of state and his ex-prime minister maintains divisions within the FPI.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Sidy Yansané
In its latest press release published the day before Laurent Gbagbo's departure from Daoukro, Pascal Affi N'Guessan's camp was offended by a statement by Assoa Adou, the secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front known as GOR (Gbagbo or nothing) , in which he presents the former head of state as the president of the party.
In this missive, Issiaka Sangaré, the spokesperson for the so-called official FPI, describes this outing as an "
unnecessary and childish provocation
".
One way of emphasizing that an opposition alliance cannot be made without the former Prime Minister.
Administratively, Affi N'Guessan is indeed the president of the historic opposition party, despite the difficult relations he maintains with its founder, Laurent Gbagbo, and the internal divisions that accompany them.
The former head of government has always said that the reins of the party would in fact return to his mentor upon his return, on condition of leaving himself a place of choice within the political formation.
However, since the arrival of Laurent Gbagbo, the two men have still not spoken to each other, at least not officially.
Justin Koné Katinan, the spokesperson for the ex-detainee of the International Criminal Court, confirms to RFI that the rival camps are not in contact, because the political orientation of the party remains to be defined.
On the Affi N'Guessan side, spokesperson Issiaka Sangaré explains that Gbagbo's visit to Bédié reflects the culture of African solidarity, but specifies that without unity, the opposition will not be able to compete with the ruling party.
► To read also: Ivory Coast: the FPI-GOR and the FPI-legal initiate a merger
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