In Côte d'Ivoire too unease is mounting at President Alassane Ouattara's controversial third term and the continuing dominance of old guard politicians although jihadists have also briefly penetrated the north (AC Vol 63 No 1 Après nous le déluge...

These three known as the 'elephants' are: Henri Konan Bédié who inherited the leadership of Houphouët-Boigny's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) and succeeded him in power before being ousted in a 1999 coup; Laurent Gbagbo elected President in controversial 2000 polls following a short-lived period of junta rule; and current President Alassane Ouattara who came to power in 2011 following nine years of on-off civil war that saw the country split in two between north and south (AC Dispatches 23/7/21 The elephants talk reconciliation)...

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo's Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) has splintered and its former leader helms a new party; President Alassane Ouattara's Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) is split over the succession; and Henri Konan Bédié's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) is under strain as questions grow about the future of its veteran leader (AC Vol 62 No 13 Old foes re-enter the ring)...

And many Ivorians were profoundly disappointed when President Alassane Ouattara used the excuse of an earlier constitutional change to justify standing for a third term last October (AC Vol 61 No 17 Citing force majeure Ouattara will run for a third term)...

New ruler moves to pre-empt Ecowas The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has been reflecting on the regional response to events in Conakry with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said to have spoken with the new military ruler Colonel Mamady Doumbouya on Monday while Ghana's Nana Addo Akufo-Addo organised an 8 September emergency regional summit...

The seaside resort of Jacqueville is now home to the Académie internationale de lutte contre le terrorisme (AILCT) a concept first mooted in 2017 at a meeting of President Emmanuel Macron of France with President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire...

President Alassane Ouattara faces the most delicate of strategic choices following the triumphal return home last week of his career-long political foe Laurent Gbagbo after his final acquittal by the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity (Dispatches 21/6/21 Gbagbo's return poses big questions)...