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According to the spokesman for the Ivory Coast Government, Amadou Coulibaly, the date of 17 June presented by FPI-GOR on the return of former President Laurent Gbagbo to the country has not been the subject of a “consent election”. It would not have been communicated to the authorities by Laurent Gbagbo’s entourage.
as reported from Abidjan, François Hume-Ferkatadji
Will Laurent Gbagbo return to Ivory Coast on June 17? If the date was announced with great fanfare by FPI-GOR’s Secretary General, several members of the government were surprised to learn the news through the press. Minutes after the announcement, the Minister for National Reconciliation, Kouadio Konan Bertin – but still involved in discussions with the FPI, assured RFI that he had not been informed.
Government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly, also contacted by RFI, regrets that this decision was taken unilaterally. “What we had agreed on is that the date should be chosen by consensus, so for us there is no date,” he warns. The Minister of Communications goes so far as to question the possibility of this return: “I do not know how it would come to this date on June 17 if no arrangements are made for the reception”.
Since April, discussions between Laurent Gbagbo’s reception committee and the government have focused on securing the former president’s residence or even the popular reception modalities, reserved for “Woody”. Which still has many followers in the country.
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announced in early April that Laurent Gbagbo could return “whenever he wanted” and that his travel expenses would be covered. But according to the government spokesman, the date of this return must be agreed between the various parties.
“There are still a whole host of things that need to be resolved upstream,” Amadou Coulibaly insists. “When they come to us to give us a date, we decide together whether that date is sustainable or not,” the spokesman finally said.
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