Ivory Coast: many reactions to the interview between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara welcomes his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo to the presidential palace in Abidjan on July 27, 2021, during their first meeting since the post-election crisis of 2010-11.
AFP - ISSOUF SANOGO
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
During their meeting this Tuesday, July 27, Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, the two men addressed subjects related to national reconciliation and called on Ivorians to break with the past.
This meeting was eagerly awaited by the Ivorian political scene, which did not fail to react, but also by the populations.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Sidy Yansané
If the various political parties welcome
the call for joint dialogue
by Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo, they also recall having always supported this approach.
On the PDCI side, the executive management adviser Guy Tressia is delighted with this meeting, which he sees as "
the beginning of real reconciliation
" desired by the party leader and former president Henri Konan Bédié.
"
We are now waiting for the three to meet in order to set up a permanent and inclusive framework for dialogue,
" he added, while specifying that the respective teams of Alassane Ouattara and Konan Bédié are still in touch.
"
A strong act
"
On social networks, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, president of the FPI says official, and always cold with Laurent Gbagbo, writes with satisfaction that "
the spirit of dialogue is no longer perceived as a renunciation of his convictions
". Reached by RFI, its secretary general Issiaka Sangaré recalls that Mr. Affi N'Guessan had already initiated a long process of reconciliation with the authorities and asked long before the former president for the release of the prisoners of the post-electoral crisis of 2011.
In a video, Charles Blé Goudé, still awaiting his passport in the Netherlands, sees “
a strong act
” in the hugs and smiles of the Ouattara-Gbagbo duo.
The former general of the street invites the populations "to accompany this new impetus indicated by the two main protagonists" of the violent episode of 2011, and calls for moral and material reparations for the victims.
"
Welcome meeting
"
For his part,
Guillaume Soro, still in exile
, applauds a “
welcome meeting
”.
Through the voice of his communications advisor Moussa Touré, he calls “
to get out of the Ouattara-Bédié-Gbagbo tripartite logic which has done a lot of harm to Côte d'Ivoire for 30 years.
"
But politicians are not the only ones to have reacted to this cordial meeting between political opponents.
On the side of civil society, a wait-and-see policy is required.
Mamadou Soromidjo Coulibaly is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Victims of the Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire (FENAVIPELCI, which covers violence committed since 1993).
Joined by RFI, he welcomes this meeting and the image given by Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo, but hopes that on the occasion of a future meeting, the three great political leaders of the country (including Henri Konan Bedié) will ask for forgiveness to Ivorians.
We expect action, because when the action is taken, it will give us strength so that we can start lobbying and advocating
Mamadou Soromidjo Coulibaly, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FENAVIPELCI
We are waiting for action, because when the action is taken, that will give us strength so that we can start lobbying and advocating.
Today the victims are ready to forgive.
The proof, Laurent Gbagbo returned (...) So we do not want this to be a facade reconciliation.
therefore, I believe that we have to trust the authorities and that we really find a common ground in which everyone will find themselves.
Everyone must put their pride aside, and also think about the interests of the nation.
but as long as each Ivorian, or each politician thinks of his personal interest, it will always take us into the abyss.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ivory Coast
Laurent Gbagbo
Alassane Ouattara
On the same subject
Ouattara / Gbagbo meeting in Ivory Coast: towards "the peace of the brave"?
Ivory Coast: these prisoners whose release Gbagbo requested in Ouattara