Laurent Gbagbo

Laurent Kudu Gbagbo (pronunciation [loʁɑ̃ kudu ɡ͡baɡ͡bo]) (Gagnoa, May 31, 1945) is an Ivorian historian, writer and politician, belonging to the Bété ethnic group (Kru linguistic family). He was president of his country between 2000 and 2011. He was co-founder with his wife Simone Ehivet and Aboudramane Sangaré of the left-wing Ivorian Popular Front party and is a historical opponent of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. He was elected as the president of the Ivory Coast in 2000 over Robert Guéï. His tenure was marked for several years by a political-military crisis.

In the 2010 presidential elections, elections that were to be held in 2005 but were postponed several times, he was defeated by Alassane Ouattara according to the Independent Electoral Commission but refused to leave power, declared himself the winner by the Constitutional Council and was officially appointed for a second term. The situation opened a new political-military crisis that lasted several months while his opponent was recognized as president by almost the entire international community. He was finally arrested on April 11, 2011 by Alassane Ouattara's forces.

Imprisoned by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, all charges were dropped in 2019 and he was released in February. He returned to Ivory Coast in June 2021 after being encouraged by President Outtara, adding that "The expenses of the trip will be borne by the State of Ivory Coast", adding that "everything will be done launched for Gbagbo to benefit from the privileges attached to his status as former head of state'. In October 2021 he presented a new party, the Parti des Peuples Africains - Côte d'Ivoire» (PPA-CI) (Party of African Peoples - Ivory Coast), a pan-Africanist formation that wants to unite the left with the aim of running for the 2025 presidential elections.

Biography

Since its beginnings, it fought for democracy and multipartyism. A trade unionist active in the 1970s whose teachings are considered "subversive", he is sent to prison by Félix Houphouët-Boigny together with his wife Simone Gbagbo in Séguéla and Bouaké from March 1971 to January 1973. After his release, he works as a researcher at the Institute of African History, Art and Archeology at the University of Abidjan and became its director in 1980.

Laurent Gbagbo made himself known during the student demonstrations on February 9, 1982, of which he was one of the main instigators, and which caused the closure of universities and higher education centers. During this year he secretly created the future Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in opposition to the single party of the time.

When the government discovered the existence of this party, he went into exile in France between 1980 and 1988. His exile in France is the occasion to promote the FPI and its government program. Although ideologically close to the PS, the French socialist government tries to "ignore" it to take care of the relationship with Houphouët. It is not until three years later that Gbagbo obtains his political refugee status, and this thanks to an appeal. However, he comes under pressure from France to return to his country, Houphouët being concerned to see him develop a network of contacts and considering that "his dynamic opponent of his would be much less burdensome in Abidjan than in Paris."

In 1988 he returned to the Ivory Coast. On October 28, 1990, the presidential election is held, and for the first time there is a candidacy other than that of Félix Houphouët-Boigny: that of Laurent Gbagbo. He officially receives 18.3% of the votes, which gives him the status of leader of the opposition. In the legislative elections of November 25, 1990, the FPI obtained 9 seats out of 175; Gbagbo himself is picked in the Ouaragahio constituency

In May 1991, and then in February 1992, important student demonstrations take place. On February 18 (while Alassane Ouattara was Prime Minister at the time), Laurent Koudou Gbagbo was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison on March 6, but was released in August. In October 2000, he won the first democratic elections held in the Ivory Coast and was proclaimed president, after a civil rebellion that overthrew the military government established since 2000.

Presidency

The opponents of his government, led by Alassane Dramane Ouattara, who could not be a candidate because he did not prove his Ivorian nationality according to the criteria established by General Guéï (author of the 1999 coup and backed by Ouattara), made a Call for new elections. In September 2002, a mutiny in a garrison degenerated into a civil war, prompting the intervention of a French interposition force, as well as the UN, which separated the two sides and achieved a truce in 2003 that lasted until September 2002. 2004.

Laurent Gbagbo initiated the Ouagadougou Accords, with the endorsement of Burkina Faso's president, Blaise Compaoré, and only inter-African agreements without external interference. In these agreements he included Guillaume Soro, head of the rebels, as prime minister, thus leaving the rebellion and his political allies like Alassane Ouattara without leadership. At the beginning of reforms and new elections, the government of President Gbagbo preferred the surrender of the rebel troops. In December 2010, the Constitutional Council declared him the winner of the presidential election. He received the support of General Philippe Mangou, commander of the army, and was sworn in on December 4, 2010, the same day that his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, was declared the winner of the elections by the independent Electoral Commission. Almost the entire international community recognizes the victory of Alassane Ouattara. At that time, the forces of both presidents launched a civil war, in which the international community imposed economic sanctions on Gbagbo and intervened (mainly French troops) in the final stages of the confrontation.

Imprisonment and ICC trial

On April 11, 2011, Laurent Gbagbo was arrested, along with his wife, in the bunker where he had been hiding for several days, by the forces of the elected Alassane Ouattara, according to sources from the French Ministry of Defense. UN sources in New York have assured that Gbagbo is in good health and that he will stand trial. The official said the UN mission, known as UNOCI, was "providing protection and security in accordance with his mandate." UNOCI has a mandate to protect political actors in Côte d'Ivoire, including Gbagbo.

On November 30, 2011, Laurent Gbagbo was extradited from his country to the Netherlands to stand trial before the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity; He is the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC since the creation of this international court.

On December 5, 2011, Gbagbo appeared for the first time before the International Criminal Court to answer for crimes against humanity, in a historic milestone as he was the first former head of state to appear in court as an accused before that court; Gbagbo complains of mistreatment of him and his family by the French military during his capture and captivity in the Ivory Coast.

On July 12, 2013, the International Criminal Court decided to continue holding Gbagbo in pretrial detention pending trial by rejecting a legal appeal filed by the former president's defense attorneys.

On January 28, 2016, Gbagbo's oral and public trial began before the International Criminal Court; In the trial he is accused of ordering a wave of repression against his opponents and the civilian population with the purpose of staying in power, a repression in which at least 3,000 people were killed and many others suffered physical and emotional integrity. Specifically, he is accused of crimes of murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts; it is pointed out that the persecution that he promoted apart from political purposes also had "religious, ethnic and xenophobic reasons". Gbagbo denies the charges and proclaims his innocence.

On January 15, 2019, the International Criminal Court drops the charges and declares him innocent. However, the ICC decided to keep him in prison provisionally, but on February 1, he was officially released. Shortly after, the Belgian authorities they agreed to host Gbagbo.

2020 Presidential Election

Return to Ivory Coast

After ten years of absence Gbagbo, acquitted by international justice, returned to his country in June 2021 ready to return to the political scene. On October 16-17, 2021, the presentation of a new party is celebrated with the objective of "unite the left" with the prospect of the 2025 presidential elections. It is called Parti des Peuples Africains - Côte d'Ivoire» (PPA-CI) (Party of African Peoples - Ivory Coast) placing the accent in the pan-African dimension and defending the sovereignty of Africa against Western powers.

Six of Gbagbo's former allies also returned after spending years in exile after being encouraged by current President Ouattara. In October 2021, Gbagbo launched a new political party called the African People's Party - Cote d&# 39;Ivoire (PPA-CI). In December 2021, he spent four days in Ghana. According to a statement from his party, he went there to attend the funeral of Captain Kojo Tsikata, a man close to former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings. Laurent Gbagbo also visited Ivorian exiles, whose return he wanted to the country since the Côte d'Ivoire crisis, 11,000 Ivorians fled the post-election crisis to seek asylum in neighboring Ghana.