Laurent Gbagbo’s departure to Abidjan will take place on Thursday 17 June. In Brussels, where the former Ivorian president had resided since his release from the ICC in February 2019, his supporters fought for his release and then for his return to the country. They have been waiting a long time for this moment.
“The release of Laurent Gbagbo and his departure for the Ivory Coast in particular, it is a fresh air. Frankly, I have no words ”. Boniface Koukoulou is part of a civil society organization, writes our special envoy to Brussels, Charlotte cosset. In recent years in Brussels, he has been particularly active in the field: “We have made marches to raise awareness of Belgian and international opinion whenever we have the opportunity. In any case, we are still there ”.
René Titilo is the representative of the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) in Brussels. He thinks back with a little bit of bitterness in the weeks after his release: “They isolated him. He did not have an identity card and he was not allowed to leave his neighborhood. And every day there were rumors ”. He is very happy today with the former president’s return to the country: “Happy for him and his family first and foremost, but also for all the FPI and for all the Ivorians. The priority was to get him released. Now that he is free, we will focus on what we started. We will fight for social cohesion. We did not ask people to participate in FPI. We only ask people to have the social cohesion that enables us to discuss sincerely in order to create democracy ”. The goal now, he assures, is reconciliation of the Ivorians.
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“If he has to do politics again, he will do politics again.”
In this little bush in Brussels, there is no doubt that we will follow Laurent Gbagbo’s return: “We will follow this on TV. It will be everywhere ”.
Kadi is part of the Ivorian diaspora, she is happy to see the former president return to the country: “It makes us very happy. We are very happy that he is coming home. It does not make us happy that he is in prison. So if he goes home, that’s fine. He will find his country ”. But she still fears new outbreaks of violence: “We are waiting to see what will happen, because there are still two camps and we no longer want war. So we are waiting to see ”.
A feeling shared by Mohamed: “It is a son from the Ivory Coast who is returning home, so no worries. As long as he is not extradited by Belgium and returns voluntarily, that he is waiting for his family, there will be no problem for that. So do not aggravate people and all this. Everyone has decided to move on, to draw a line in the past for reconciliation, to move forward. Then after, when the time is right, if he has to do politics again, he will do politics again. At the moment, people usually want peace and quiet ”.
Everyone hopes that this return will lead to reconciliation.
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