The interview, given by Laurent Gbagbo to TV5 Monde, marks the former president’s return to the Ivorian political scene. Gbagbo, who is currently still in Brussels due to a lack of passports, is calling for negotiations to ease tensions in the country, while asserting his opposition to the opposition. A political positioning that for some analysts has religious resonances and allows it to assert its place within the opposition.
Nine years of media silence. And this interview which no one expected. “In this struggle, which is being waged today around the third period, I myself am Laurent Gbagbo, former head of state, former prisoner of the ICC, I am resolutely on the side of the opposition. I am certainly opposed to the exercise of the third term. But I say, given my experience, that we need to negotiate. “For his return to politics, Gbagbo decided to place himself above the current tensions. It shows the figure of the sage released from prison trials.
Laurent Gbagbo first removes any ambiguity about his political stance. While there is much talk about his return to Ivory Coast, he reminds all those who may have wondered about his relationship with the authorities that he is actually against it. Angry from the third third term? “I understand that,” he said, and I share it. The fault in the current voltages? It falls, he explains, to head of state Alassane Ouattara. “The others,” he says, “who rebel because their common good, the Constitution, has been torn apart, we can not blame them the same as him.”
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According to political analyst Sylvain N’Guessan, head of the Institute of Strategy in Abidjan, this point is “welcome in his camp”: “For some time, rumors have been circulating that he could have had exchanges for non-participation of Mr Laurent Gbagbo in the political game for a possible return to Ivory Coast after the presidential election, I think Mr Laurent Gbagbo is trying to reassure his camp that he is still with them, that he remains captain, he is still playing its role as leader of the FPI and therefore of the opposition ”.
In opposition, Laurent Gbagbo in this interview deals with a few blows to power in position by positioning himself as the guardian of the law. This position is all the more practical to adopt, as it has been withheld from the Ivorian political game in recent years by limitation. One of the political problems in Africa, the former professor explains, is that we write texts without believing in them. The Constitution states that the number of terms is limited to two. Why do we want to preach a third period? ”
The former president invokes the law in particular in two cases that concern him: his candidacy and the passport that is slowly being given to him to return to the Ivory Coast. On his candidacy and the candidacy of the 39 other candidates who are excluded from the competition, he talks about “childish” behavior. Failure to hand over his passport is described as a “bad way”, a rule that is not respected.
Religious symbolism
“It’s like a political uprising,” analyzes Arsène Brice Bado, a teacher-researcher at CERAP, Abidjan Center for Research and Action for Peace, because his supporters have been waiting a long time for him to speak. He takes the floor by invoking his responsibility for Côte d’Ivoire peace and calls for a resumption of political dialogue. ”
According to political scientist at the University of Bouaké, Ousmane Zina, Laurent Gbagbo’s words even have religious resonances: “This return has something of the pilgrimage, the academic explains, something spiritual. He returns with the mantle of purity after his imprisonment by the ICC, as washed from his sins. And he makes sure that this layer of purity sticks to the contradictions of the moment ”.
The main message of this interview is actually the call for negotiation to avoid what the former president describes as a “rift”, a “disaster”. “That’s why I speak,” Laurent Gbagbo explains, “so people know I do not agree to go hand in hand with disaster. So people know I said there was something else to do. “He then challenges the Ivorian politicians, as a wise man would do when he returns to a torn family. “It is peace that is threatened in the Ivory Coast, that is what needs to be negotiated. And for that, I encourage them all to get together, to sit down ”. For the opponent, it is up to President Alassane Ouattara to take the first step because, he says, “it is through him that the mistake came, the blame for violating the Constitution”.
Although he breaks the silence, Laurent Gbagbo is silent after instructions to his followers. He did not call them to take to the streets, as he had done in October 2000, letting them himself learn from his dual positioning as an opponent and defender of dialogue. For Ousmane Zina, this is part of a perfectly controlled political discourse: “First of all, he knows that his trial is not completely over, that he is still under appeal. He therefore could not take the risk of sending a signal to his followers who could have turned against him … As he negotiates his return to Côte d’Ivoire, given the strength of the current power, he would have more to lose what one can gain by a confrontation on the street. Finally, even if the street strategy would have worked, he would not have been able to pick the fruits from it since he is in exile. ”
Sylvain Nguessan believes that the former president has measured the changes that have taken place in a decade: “The memories of 2010-2011 still live in people’s minds. So I take risks on the street, I do not think that is the will of many Ivorians today. In my opinion, the street can not mobilize as it did in the years 2010-2011. I do not think. So negotiation will be the best way in such a context to find the appropriate solution for the Ivory Coast after 31 October ”.
► To read: Ivorian president: Laurent Gbagbo comes out of his silence and calls to avoid “disaster”
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