Three months after his final acquittal of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo is expected this Thursday, June 17, 2021 in Abidjan.
The plane from Brussels, a regular flight, should land at Félix Houphouët-Boigny international airport in Abidjan at 3:45 pm. Mr. Gbagbo returns, according to his relatives, without a spirit of revenge, but probably to work for the policy of “national reconciliation” initiated by the government.
Laurent Gbagbo, who led the country for ten years until 2011, will be welcomed at the presidential pavilion at the airport, as proposed by President Alassane Ouattara, who in the name of “national reconciliation”, authorized the return of the founding president of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). A gesture welcomed by this party.
On his arrival at Abidjan airport, he will be greeted by a very small number of very close personalities including Assoa Adou. Then, around 4.30 pm, Laurent Gbagbo plans to address the nation. After that, he will go to the FPI headquarters in Cocody where he will meet the activists who will make the trip.
A meeting is also planned with the president of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI-RDA), Henri Konan Bédié. A meeting which will probably be held in Daoukro.
Born May 31, 1945 in Gagnoa, Laurent Gbagbo is an Ivorian historian, writer and statesman, President of the Republic from October 26, 2000 to April 11, 2011. Founder with his wife Simone Ehivet of the left-wing FPI party, he is a historical opponent to Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
He was elected head of Côte d’Ivoire in 2000 against the outgoing president, Robert Guéï. His mandate was marked for several years by a politico-military crisis.
At the end of the 2010 presidential election, which was to be held in 2005 but which he rejected several times, he was defeated by Alassane Ouattara by the Independent Electoral Commission but was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council.
He refuses to leave power, which leads to a politico-military crisis lasting several months while his opponent’s victory is recognized by almost the entire international community. He was finally arrested on April 11, 2011.
Incarcerated at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (Netherlands), he was acquitted in 2019.
His opponents still believe that he threw his country into chaos by refusing his defeat to Alassane Ouattara in the 2010 presidential election. This refusal caused a serious post-election crisis, during which some 3,000 people were killed. It is for this violence that Mr. Gbagbo was arrested in April 2011, first detained in northern Côte d’Ivoire, then transferred at the end of 2011 to the ICC.
In the wake of his acquittal and in the name of “national reconciliation” in a country bruised by political and ethnic violence for more than twenty years, Alassane Ouattara had given the green light to the return of Laurent Gbagbo, assuring that he would benefit from the benefits due to train presidents.
Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse