Laurent Gbagbo’s lawyers say he spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Ahmed Bakayoko on Wednesday. According to them, he expressed concern and feelings after the encirclement of the residence of former President Henri Konan Bédié. A political gesture confirming the new position of the former president.
With our special correspondent in Abidjan,Laurent Correau
Laurent Gbagbo settles with this new political gesture in the body posture of the unifying opponent. According to his lawyers, the phone interview took place at the end of the day. He gave him the opportunity to express his “concern” to Prime Minister Ahmed Bakayoko to the treatment inflicted on Henri Konan Bédié and other political figures. Laurent Gbagbo was also touched by the latter’s wife, Henriette Bédié.
One of Laurent Gbagbo’s lawyers, Maître Habiba Touré, explains that he invited the Prime Minister “to calm the situation by promoting dialogue rather than repression”. The former president was, she said, “pleased with the very good availability of Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, who promised to take action in favor of easing the political climate.”
The President’s Council seeks to give this invitation a solemnity. They specify that this interview took place “after ten years without any contact with the existing authorities.”
In the interview he gave a week ago, to our colleagues on TV5 Monde, Laurent Gbagbo had already taken this position as the apostle of dialogue firmly rooted in the opposition. “I am resolute against the exercise of the third term,” he said. But I say, given my experience, that we need to negotiate. “
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